The Decline of Privilege: The Modernization of Oxford University

ISBN-13: 9780804734882 Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication date: 06/01/1999 Edition description: 1 Pages: 352 Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d) This book studies Oxford University's transformation—and the political hazards for academics that ensued—when, after World War II, it changed from a private liberal-arts club with aristocratic pretensions into a state university heavily committed to the natural sciences, and with a middle-class constituency and a meritocratic ethos. Despite these changes, the author shows that Oxford has not been able to elude its long-standing Brideshead Revisited reputation. This antiquated image became a source of difficulties when the Labour Party in the 1960's sought to expand educational opportunities to promote the cause of social justice. In the 1980's the Universityagain came under attack, this time for its supposedly anti-industrial ethos, as Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party attempted to reverse Britain's economic dec