As we rush headlong into the technological and disruptive world of global capitalism, the American Dream has become increasingly a story about education and learning. This contemporary myth tells that the individual can succeed if she acquires the proper dispositions, knowledge and technical know-how throughout her life. Those who fall into obsolescence do so as a consequence of educational failure.
Obsoleting Culture draws from such diverse fields as philosophy of education, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and journalism to explore the heavy burdens this contemporary myth places on the self. Through a close reading of one of the greatest American plays of the twentieth century, Obsoleting Culture considers “learning” as the name we give to the struggle to achieve value, relevance and a place in the future plans of others.