"Although the large universities
are still relatively free places in which to work, the trends that limit
independence of intellect are not absent there. The professor is,
after all, an employee, subject to what this fact involves, and institutional
factors select men and have some influence upon how, when, and upon what
they will work. Yet the deepest problem of freedom for teachers is not
the occasional ousting of a professor, but a vague general fear--sometimes
called 'discretion' and 'good judgement'--which leads to self-intimidation
and finally becomes so habitual that the scholar is unaware of it. The
real restraints are not so much external prohibitions as manipulative control
of the insurgent by the agreements of academic gentlemen. Such control
is, of course, furthered by Hatch Acts, by political and business attacks
upon professors, by the restraints necessarily involved in Army programs
for colleges, and by the setting up of committees by trade associations,
which attempt to standardize the content and effects of teaching in given
disciplines. Research in social science is increasingly dependent upon
funds from foundations, which are notably averse to scholars who develop
unpopular, 'unconstructive,' theses" (White Collar:
The American Middle Classes, 1951, pp. 151-152).