Culture,democracy, and the university

This paper examines recent claims that the bodies of knowledge, the standards, and the methods of rational inquiry promulgated by the university are undemocratic, representing a hegemony of Western, middle-class, male culture. It argues that such a view is based on a social construction view of knowledge and points out several problems with this view. It further argues that democracy is not simply a matter of consensus but presupposes rational debate and such rationality is embedded in our cultural traditions of knowledge and inquiry. These traditions are not simply monolithic and static, but are arenas of controversy and debate, and their critical modes of inquiry provide the possibility for evolution and for critique of the traditions themselves. Thus even the criticisms brought forth by the critics of the traditions have grown out of and presuppose the very traditions which they seek to undermine. There is a strong case for investigating the social influences on what has been excluded from the canons of the culture, for reclaiming valuable works which have been neglected, and for critically examining the methodologies of the disciplines. Nonetheless the rejection of rational modes of inquiry seriously undermines the possibility for democracy.