The Decline of the English Major: Exploring Literary Attachment with Rita Felski

The English major is nationally losing the two most important lifelines an academic concentration needs to thrive: student interest and institutional funding. Enrollment has declined drastically over the past fifty years, dropping from 7.6% of all American bachelor’s degrees in 1971 to just 2.8% in 2021, illuminating a 63.2% differential (NCES). As attendance staggers and student interest wanes, this discipline risks further marginalization and forced absorption into other departments. Further troubling the issue is the widespread perception that an English degree offers no career prospects, leading many students to opt for fields with clearer professional futures. Scholars have increasingly argued that this crisis demands a re-evaluation of the field’s constitution, including curriculum reform, increased funding, and an attentional insistence on student literary engagement (Hearn and Belasco 2015; Eckert 2008; McLary 2020). The growing consensus that the English major must adapt to shifting cultural and economic contexts must be answered in order to ensure the department's survival. This thesis takes the decline of the English major as its starting point to examine the work of scholars who offer potential solutions to this crisis. Particularly in Rita Felski’s studies, The Uses of Literature (2008) and Hooked: Art and Attachment (2020). The discussion will focus on Felski’s aims to reframe literary study by emphasizing the emotional and intellectual attachment readers form with texts, arguing that reaction–rather than preemptive theory–sustains a lasting love for literature. Chapter one outlines the debate on the decline of the English major, identifying the three main long-standing issues of student disillusionment, the humanities uncategorical nature, and curriculum stagnation (Welch 1935; Maxwell 1965). Building on the debate, chapter two focuses on Rita Felski’s literary theories, particularly those outlined in The Uses of Literature. Discussion examines how readers form attachments to literature through narrative modes such as recognition, enchantment, knowledge, and shock. The third and final chapter analyzes Hooked: Art and Attachment, meaning to further investigate the dynamics of reader engagement, emphasizing how emotional and affective connections to literature can reshape our understanding of its allure. These affective responses will be evaluated in relation to the student experience, helping illuminate what literary qualities or classroom strategies might foster more meaningful engagement and higher attendance. This research will contribute to the ongoing discourse on the future of the humanities and provide strategies for sustaining the declining English major in higher education.