ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the role played by economic factors such as the state of the economy and relative earnings of different majors, changing preferences of undergraduates, and whether the crisis in the humanities has been self-inflicted, in particular by 'the culture wars' of the humanities. It looks at how the number of degrees granted in the humanities and the humanities market share has fluctuated since 1949. The chapter also looks at how the market share of other majors has fluctuated. It discusses the various reasons given for fluctuation in the humanities. Internal developments in the humanities may have turned off students who considered studying humanities subjects. Roger Geiger attributes at least some of the rise in humanities enrolments in the 1960s to a revitalized curriculum and to the growing importance of general education curricula that provided a derived demand for humanities courses and majors.