Belittled Magazine: Thirty years after the Sokal affair
Bruce Robbins, a former coeditor of Social Text, reflects on the Sokal affair nearly 30 years later, examining the journal's complex relationship with politics, elitism, and intellectual standards. The article critiques how academic debates over 'constructionism' and the media's framing resonate with contemporary culture wars, particularly university responses to current protests. It's a sharp, personal retrospective offering insights into academic integrity and the ever-shifting landscape of political engagement.
The Lowdown
Nearly three decades after the infamous Sokal affair, Bruce Robbins, a coeditor of Social Text at the time, offers a retrospective on the journal's survival and the enduring legacy of the hoax. He unpacks the layers of academic and political debate ignited by the physicist Alan Sokal's deliberately nonsensical submission, drawing parallels to today's culture wars and the concept of elitism.
- The article recounts Social Text's resilience post-hoax, attributing its survival to prior strong work and the era's intense culture war pressures that fostered loyalty.
- It re-examines "constructionism," arguing that its 1960s/70s political utility—denaturalizing categories like race and gender—was often misunderstood or hyperextended.
- Robbins discusses the journal's identity as a "little magazine," initially an organ of the left, contrasting it with Lionel Trilling's views on elitism and cultivated publics.
- The piece highlights a reversal in how "elitism" is weaponized, shifting from critiques of entrenched power structures to targeting expertise and education itself, particularly in the context of conservative attacks on universities.
- It recalls the media's sensationalist coverage of the Sokal affair, likening Social Text to the emperor with no clothes, and critiques how journalists often align with "common sense" against academic jargon.
- Robbins details internal Social Text debates, including his failed attempts to publish Sokal's 'Afterword' and an essay on Richard Rorty, revealing a preference for ideological purity over broader engagement.
- He surprisingly reveals a collaboration with Sokal in 2002 on an "Open Letter of American Jews" critiquing Israeli occupation, demonstrating that common ground can exist despite past ideological battles.
- The author acknowledges Social Text's unintended role as a "gatekeeper" and the "left-wing glee" at its exposure, suggesting it alienated some who viewed it as part of the establishment.
- Finally, Robbins connects these historical debates to current events, criticizing university administrations (e.g., Columbia, NYU) for their responses to Gaza protests, which he sees as a submission to moneyed elites and a failure to uphold intellectual standards and academic freedom.
The piece concludes by asserting that the academy, much like little magazines, is no longer a refuge from political interference, and calls for vigilance against the erosion of intellectual standards in the face of contemporary political pressures.