Free Republic

Ivan Illich, the sociologist and former priest who died on Monday aged 76, was a resolute opponent of institutionalisation; his controversial views on education, society, the law, medicine, and over-consumption brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church and “experts” in almost every discipline.Experts were, in fact, precisely the target of Illich’s wrath, especially in his two most influential books, Deschooling Society (1971) and Medical Nemesis (1975). The hideously-titled Celebration of Awareness took a dim view of progress. Gender (1982) pointed out that drains were not an unqualified benefit to the Third World’s women. “Tap water put an end...