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The Role of Higher Education in the Post-Truth Era

Parker, Jonathan

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Abstract

The rise in populism and movements that threaten trust in science and expertise has been labelled a post-truth world. What challenges does this environment present for higher education, and how should it respond? This article examines the characteristics of a post-truth world and how that challenges the fundamental purposes of higher education. It then examines how higher education might respond, what risks come with that response, and how effectively it might resist attempts to attack and undermine its different purposes. These movements undermine possibilities for truth or objective knowledge, presenting a clear threat to higher education. Its response focuses around improving research and communication with the public, but the nature of cognitive processes in a polarized world leads people to discount information that does not fit with their existing world views and values. Simply providing better research will not solve the problem, and actively engaging with these movements can make higher education seem more partisan, further reducing trust. In the face of such intractable problems, it is important for higher education to also nurture communities with its students that foster trust and ‘critical loyalty’ to knowledge and truth over falsehoods and conspiracy.

Citation

Parker, J. (2024). The Role of Higher Education in the Post-Truth Era. Journal of Political Science Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2024.2354972

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 20, 2024
Online Publication Date Jun 13, 2024
Publication Date Jun 13, 2024
Deposit Date Jun 4, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jun 13, 2024
Journal Journal of Political Science Education
Print ISSN 1551-2169
Electronic ISSN 1551-2177
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Pages 1-14
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2024.2354972
Keywords post truth; polarization; trust; epistemic community; curriculum; students as partners
Public URL https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/845969
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15512169.2024.2354972

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Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
The final version of this accepted manuscript and all relevant information related to it, including copyrights, can be found on the publisher website.

� 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLCThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this articlehas been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE EDUCATIONhttps://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2024.2354972






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