Student radicalism stemmed from colleges failing to keep their career promises

Evidence

In our view, the origins of the student movement and youth radicalism may be traced, not so much to the university itself, as to fundamental contradictions in the larger society. The nature of contradiction may be briefly summarized. First, the expansion of enrollments, like the expansion of capital, continues to be essential in legitimizing the class structure and allowing its reproduction. Yet the material well-being and transformed social relations of production induced by the expansion of capital have produced an incongruence between the aspirations of college students on the one hand and the labor requirements of the economy on the other. In short, colleges can no longer make good their promises: Most students are simply not getting enough of what they want out of higher education. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 1758

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Progressive school reforms failed because their goals contradict under corporate capitalism — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 547; Six persistent structural grievances sustained the student movement’s radicalization; 1960s radicals traded independent critique for safe university careers. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2622 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Six persistent structural grievances sustained the student movement’s radicalization #expands (0.82)
• 1960s radicals traded independent critique for safe university careers. #contradicts (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2622
• Technocratic university reform triggered the 1968-69 student strikes #corroborates (0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2659
• Student rebellion arises from physiological suffocation rather than revolutionary conditions #contradicts (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2669