What's Being Sold and To What End? A Content Analysis of College Viewbooks

The article analyzes the content of college viewbooks, which are designed to entice students to enroll in the universities that they represent. Viewbooks are considered a very important medium by which institutions communicate with prospective students. The authors look at the content of a wide variety of college viewbooks, examining common themes, the ways in which themes vary by institutional type and control, and what messages are communicated to students about the academic purposes of higher education. Viewbooks are an important medium for enticing students to apply to colleges. But what messages are conveyed in them? This study offers an in-depth examination of 48 viewbooks using content analysis. The findings point to the predominance of a highly privatized conception of a college education.