American Superiority, Democratic Idealism, and the Truman Commission

A Critical Discourse Historical Analysis of Higher Education for American Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID7215769
AuthorsAllison L Palmadessa (Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume98
Issue3
Pages284-300
Publication date2023-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePeabody Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-956X • E-ISSN: 1532-7930
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0161956x.2023.2216080
OpenAlexW4379162859
LanguageEN
References cited17

In this critical historical analysis, Higher Education for American Democracy is considered a historical artifact, and its veneration as a landmark quest for equal opportunity in higher education is challenged. I argue that this report and the institutional expansion that resulted positioned the federal government to have a direct role in higher education, allowing presidential agendas and dominant ideologies to influence the course of college and university curriculum, access, and purpose. Through a discourse historical approach and a critical realist lens, the Truman Commission Report and President Truman’s public statements are analyzed to reevaluate ther report and its implications for the democratic purpose of higher education in America after World War II

Commission · Critical discourse analysis · Curriculum · Democracy · Democratization · Epistemology · Government (linguistics · Higher education · Idealism · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Sociology · Veneration · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · History · Law · Political theory and Gramsci · Public Administration

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