Does the Internet Have a Theory Bro Problem?

“Bonfire of the Humanities.”

Thus proclaimed the Washington Post in a recent data-heavy story on the state of the humanities on the American college campus. As the story pointed out, enrollment in fields like history, philosophy, theology, and classics is down 50 percent or more since peak enrollment in the early 2000s, while enrollment in some social sciences—like political science, which sometimes has a humanistic bent—has suffered similar if less precipitous declines. Meanwhile, of the students who persisted in recent years with liberal arts degrees, nearly 50 percent express regrets about what they studied.

What’s behind the decline? Explanations vary, including the straightened economic conditions since the 2008 financial crisis, the proliferation of smartphones and the meme-ification of politics and culture, and the rise of more lucrative as well as inherently interesting fields such as computer science. But any way you spin it, the liberal arts are cratering on campus.