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Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 5, No. 3, 338-364 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1469540505056794

Spectacular Colleges and Spectacular Rankings

The 'US News' rankings of American 'best' colleges

Gordon C. Chang

University of California, San Diego, gcchang{at}ucsd.edu

J. R. Osborn

University of California, San Diego, jrosborn{at}ucsd.edu

This article applies Guy Debord's theory of the spectacle to the institutional field of contemporary American higher education. Our case study examines the US News & World Report system of college rankings, which has come to acquire a powerful role in determining exchange values among colleges and universities. Based on a document analysis of 12 issues of the USN, we present three processes by which it accomplishes the construction of the rankings spectacle: abstraction, valuation and legitimation. First, the USN abstracts images of colleges and universities in the form of discrete numbers. Second, these numbers are valued, compared and ranked as exchangeable commodities. Finally, we examine the discursive strategies employed by the USN to legitimize its rankings as accurate and useful. As higher education is a unique social institution associated with the notions of truth, knowledge, rationality and science, the widespread consumption and influence of the USN rankings illuminate the degree to which the society of the spectacle has arrived upon today's American society.

Key Words: abstraction • commodification • culture • Debord • education • spectacle


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