I would like to know what is the state of Objectivism in a country you live in (I am especially interested in USA). What I am interested in is how many people know that Objectivism exists, how many people read Ayn Rand´s books, how many people know who is Ayn Rand or at least heard her name, if there are any politicians who support Objectivism, whether the knownedle of Objectivism increases or decreases, what is the future trend and so forth. I know that the answers will be partly guesses and estimations but I would like to hear them so or so.
I know that the answers will be partly guesses and estimations but I would like to hear them so or so.
Well I can only give you my estimation, but I just turned 34 and I had never heard of Ayn Rand, her books or Objectivism until April of this year. (Pretty sad, huh?) I finished Atlas Shrugged (AS) in late May and started with this forum in June, so I am really new to all of this. I can tell you that besides my employer, the person who referred me to Ayn Rand, one neighbor and an aunt, I cannot find anyone else who has even heard of her. The Fountainhead sounded familiar to a few people, but other than that, I just got a lot of question marks on faces. I am doing my best to spread the word, though. I have already loaned AS to a very liberal friend of mine and she seems very interested to give it a chance. Her liberal husband, however, reamed her for bringing home “that Conservative crap!” Based on that comment, I assume he’s never read it either.
Caution: Wild Guess Crossing
Some people will recognize “Fountainhead … .the book about the architect guy”, others will recognise the phrase “Who is John Galt”, still others will know something about Ayn Rand. I’d say that in my experience in the U.S., among people I interact with professionally, about 1 in 20 will be at least somewhat vaguely aware or Rand or her books.
Awareness will vary a lot across different demographic groups. The forum has a lot of members who were in high-school recently, and it’ll be interesting in guesses to the following question: in your high school, of every 100 kids how many would probably have read at least one Rand fiction book?
Many people like Rand’s fiction, even if they aren’t fans nor Objectivists. I’d say 1 in 2,500 (of adults) would be a pretty safe estimate, though the number is probably higher. To put that in perspective, that would mean about 3,000 fans in New York city; it would mean about 600 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Of these, the majority probably think of Fountainhead as a nice book they read and that’s it; nothing more.
A smaller number will actually study the philosophy. If we consider a 40,000-student University, it wouldn’t be surprising to find a 4-5 person Objectivist club. That would imply a fairly deep level of commitment, among that particular demographic, of about 1-in-10,000.
Now, consider guesses about the future. There are roughly 4 million kids at each school-year in the U.S. (The “width” of the “pipe”). Since 2002, ARI has given out 800,000 copies of books to teachers (the bulk since 2005). Of course, some will take the books and not use them; also, the same kid who reads “The Fountainhead” may go on to read “Atlas”. So, if one goes from 800,000 copies to 200,000 kids exposed in a school-year containing about 4 million kids, we’re talking of 5% exposure (500-of-10000) just through that means.
For a deeper level of exposure, consider that over 10,000 kids entered the Anthem essay contest and over 6,000 the Fountainhead one. That’s approx. 25-of-10000 for one and 15-of-10000 for the other.
Virtually zero here in Taiwan.
But then again, when I lived in the US it was pretty low too. As a rough estimate, maybe 1-5 in 100 has heard of or read the Fountainhead, and even less for Atlas Shrugged. Among those who have read or heard of the book, maybe 1/2 actually recall the name of Ayn Rand.
If we’re talking about the philosophy of Objectivism – well my guess would be that the number is much, much, much lower. The number cited by Softwarenerd seems above seems pretty reasonable.
The forum has a lot of members who were in high-school recently, and it’ll be interesting in guesses to the following question: in your high school, of every 100 kids how many would probably have read at least one Rand fiction book?
This is hardly a representative sample, but in my high school class of about 120 people myself and two others have read Rand, and a fourth is in the process.
Almost negligible here in Australia, at least amongst the general population. It’s hard to say as I live in the middle of nowhere, but not once have I ever seen even the slightest reference anywhere in my travels. A sparing few may recall that a former Prime Minister of ours, Malcolm Fraser, once spoke well enough of Miss Rand while he was in the US such that she was invited to the White House as a result, but that was 30 years ago. Down in Melbourne, some know of Objectivism thanks to Prodos’s efforts on the net, on radio, and IRL. There is still the Celebrate Capitalism walks he organises for world-wide, and I was at the Adelaide one in the first year, but there’s never been one in Adelaide since then and I don’t think there are any in other cities besides Melbourne.
Things are a bit different in the blogosphere, mostly because cyberspace makes this world small and insular. Most have indeed heard of Ayn Rand, especially the self-styled Right Wing Death Beasts (*), but generally associate it with libertarianism. Those who are libertarians aren’t much interested in deeper philosophy and concentrate on politics instead, just as libertarians tend to do everywhere. At least in the right-wing blogosphere there isn’t much significant presence of PTL loonies.
(* “Right Wing Death Beast” is what I want my membership tag changed to when I earn the privilege 
)
JJM
Is this not depressing? The book (AS) voted second only to the Bible as books that changed people’s lives and few have even heard of it or its author? Madness, I tell you…madness!!
In my high school, there were three, including myself.
Ayn Rand and Objectivism are virtually unknown in Brazil.
Is this not depressing? The book (AS) voted second only to the Bible as books that changed people’s lives and few have even heard of it or its author? Madness, I tell you…madness!!
Voted where?
I want to check out the other books on that list.
One further question: is Ayn Rand taught in school in USA? If you have something like literature classes or so.
Voted where?
I want to check out the other books on that list.
Here in England… well, just read the quote in my Signature. 
He mentions another poll which is nice in some way, one conducted by Random House. There is a “critics choice” ranking and a popular ranking. What you will see is that AS, Fountainhead, WTL and Anthem rank very high, as do some L Ron Hubbard pieces and various Heinlein novels. Clearly there was a “plan” there, so I take these voting issues with a grain of salt – what exactly do they reflect? Reader enthusiasm, I would suppose.
Something that I found interesting is that of the 100 books on the two lists, less than 1/3 of them were on both lists. If you look at the rankings within the shared set, there is basic agreement on about 7 books The Call Of The Wild (Jack London), Brave New World (Aldous Huxley), Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh), The Grapes Of Wrath (John Steinbeck), The Sheltering Sky (Paul Bowles), Ulysses (James Joyce), and The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald). There is substantial disagreement on about 9 where the critics significantly undervalue The Catcher In The Rye (J.D. Salinger), Of Human Bondage (W. Somerset Maugham), Heart Of Darkness (Joseph Conrad), 1984 (George Orwell), and Animal Farm (George Orwell) compared to the poll-participants, and overvalue Light In August (William Faulkner), Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison), I, Claudius (Robert Graves), and A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man (James Joyce).
Voted where?
I want to check out the other books on that list.
Here’s another one… http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
One further question: is Ayn Rand taught in school in USA? If you have something like literature classes or so.
I think some students were reading The Fountainhead at my high school because that title didn’t sound completely unfamiliar to me, but I had never heard of her until I was 33 years old.
One further question: is Ayn Rand taught in school in USA? If you have something like literature classes or so.
I was never taught Rand in class, but the other day in the book store I saw AS on the “Summer Reading” table, so someone must be teaching it.
One further question: is Ayn Rand taught in school in USA? If you have something like literature classes or so.
It was never taught at my high school, but I am aware of a couple nearby schools who do assign TF for the essay contest.