TheMATTER!

v.2

The Humanities encompass literature, classics,
ancient and modern languages, history, philosophy, media studies, the ﬁne and performing
arts, and other related subjects. It can be a challenge to show the beneﬁts the Humanities
bring; in this infographic we gather available
evidence to show that the Humanities matter!

The Humanities are academic disciplinesthat seek to understand and interpret thehuman experience, from individuals toentire cultures, engaging in the discovery,
preservation, and communication of thepast and present record to enable a deeper
understanding of contemporary society.

Presented by 4Humanities and UCL Centre for Digital Humanities

WHAT THE HUMANITIES DO
The Humanities are about
what it is to be human.
They fostersocial justice and equality

Understanding others in
the world through theirLANGUAGES,HISTORIES,& CULTURES.

reveal how people have tried to make moral,
spiritual, and intellectual sense of the world.

They teach empathy.
They teach us to weighevidence skeptically,
and consider more than
one side of every question.

The Humanities teach us todeal critically and logicallywith subjective, complex,
imperfect information.

The Humanities
encourage us to

Humanities students build skills inwriting andcritical reading.

think creatively.
They teach us to reason about being humanand to ask questions about our world.

The Humanities develop informed and critical citizens.
Without the Humanities democracy will not flourish.

The value of the Humanities ismore often in thequestions posed
than the answers found;
Humanistic study is
not formulaic.
One only needs to turn on the news to see that
we need the skills and knowledge of the humanities inunderstanding other cultures,

being able to communicate effectively,realizing the ramifications of history, andanalyzing human behavior.
The Humanities are more important to global society than ever.

THE CRITICS SAY...
Critics accuse the Humanities oflacking cultural or economic relevance.

They saythe Humanities
have no purpose.

They say ouracademic work isinaccessible to the public.
They say that Humanities students are

not immediately employable.
They say in times of economic recession

resources should not be spent on thestudy of the human condition.
They saythe Humanities are in crisis.

BUT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS...
The 2020 Survey of the Humanities in American Life showed that:of Americans respond favorably
to the term “Humanities”.

of Americans believe the Humanities
help people understand others whose
lives are different from their own.

of Americans believe the Humanities
make the economy stronger.

In 2020, 29% of Americans statedthey feel that their career advancement
was at least partially impaired bya deﬁciency in one or more humanistic skills.

Humanities majors were much more likely tobe readers of ﬁction and nonﬁction thancollege graduates in general.

of American adults wish
they took more language
courses while in school.

2/3

College graduates are more
likely to have been highly
exposed to the Humanities aschildren than people with only ahigh school education.

of Humanities graduates read ﬁction often orvery often, compared to 47% of college
graduates generally.

Over two-thirdsof Humanities and Social Science graduatesenter the private sector, primarily theﬁnancial and business sectors,
followed by wholesaling and retailing.

These sectors represent some of thefastest growing

areas within the economy.
State of Humanities in 2019stated that their job provided the “opportunity
to do what I do best every day”

Humanities graduates have foundsatisfaction in

were “deeply interested in the work that I do”

many areas in their everyday lives.
believed that they had the “ideal job” for them

In 2016, 93% of U.S. hiring managers said that soft skills were an“essential” &“very important” factor in making hiring decisions:

Communication

Agility

Self-management

Interpersonal Skills

Creativity & Innovation

Critical & Analytical Thinking

Skills of Humanitiesstudents arein demand
from employers:
want criticalthinking andanalyticalreasoning

want effective
oral and written
communication

want employees
to analyze andsolve complex
problems

want employees
to makeethically informed
decisions

In 2017, three-quartersof U.S. adults consumed artistic orarts-related content throughelectronic media, and more thanhalf attended artistic,creative, or culturalactivities.

CULTURE IS IMPORTANT...
Every yearof Americans read works of ﬁction,
including novels, plays, and short storiesof Americans feel theHumanities help
strengthen theAmerican democracy.

watch history shows on TV or online
read biographiesof Americans
occasionally engage inat least of form ofHumanities activity.

read poetry

write poetry

We need to understand the role that culture plays in people’s lives:

this is the role of the Humanities.
The Humanities are about discovery:

discover the Humanities!

4Humanities.org
References
AAC&U and Hart Research Associates. (2010). “Raising the Bar:
Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the
Economic Downturn”.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (2021). State of Humanities
2021: Workforce and Beyond. https://www.amacad.org/publication/
humanities-workforce-beyond.

Data collected from references by Melissa Terras with assistancefrom Ernesto Priego and the 4Humanities.org collective: Alan Liu,Geoffrey Rockwell, Stéfan Sinclair, Christine Henseler, and Lindsay
Thomas. Version 2 data updated by Madeleine Sorapure withassistance from Melody Rong.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (2020). The Humanities
in American Life at a Glance. https://www.amacad.org/publication/humanities-american-life.
British Academy. (2010). Past, Present and Future: The Public Value ofthe Humanities and Social Sciences.
British Academy. (2008). “Punching Our Weight: The Humanities andSocial Sciences in Public Policy Making”.

Do you know any more statistics about the Humanities?
Please do contact us at contact@4humanities.org

Burian, Peter. (2012). “Defending the Humanities.” Inside Higher Education.
National Endowment for the Arts and U. S. Bureau of the Census. (2017).
Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37138.v3.
Universities, U. K. (2011). The Impact of Universities on the UK Economy:Fourth report.
Wonderlic (2016). Hard Facts about Soft Skills. http://docs.wixstatic.com/
ugd/cceaf9_ec9ed750296142f18efdd49f4930f6d3.pdf

This work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution 3.0 Unported License
How to cite this infographic: Terras, M., Priego, E., Liu, A.,
Rockwell, G., Sinclair, S., Hensler, C., Thomas, L., andSorapure, M. (2023). “’The Humanities Matter!’ Infographic,”
v. 2, https://4humanities.org/infographic.