Search results for "academic capital"

Social mechanisms and strategic action fields: The example of the emergence of the European Research Area

2017

The point of departure of this article is Fligstein and McAdam’s A Theory of Fields. It is argued that their theoretical framework would be strengthened by a more systematic focus in social mechanism-based explanations since this would increase understanding of how new strategic action fields (SAFs) emerge. This argument is illustrated by exploring the emergence of the European Research Area (ERA) as a SAF. In identifying social mechanisms the article draws both on Fligstein and McAdam’s studies and on academic capitalism literature. The main conclusion is that the emergence of the ERA was brought about by multiple social mechanisms such as collective attribution of threat/opportunity, soc…

The “Dean’s Squeeze” revisited: a contextual approach

2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for identifying the primary tensions that business school dean’s encounter when moving between different university contexts.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is part of a larger research project on the development of business schools. This conceptual paper builds on the studies and personal experiences of business schools and their management in a number of different countries, primarily in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East.Findings– The present study argues that as a response to the increasing corporatization of higher education, the university sector has fragmented into at least three identifiable…

Towards a theory of transnational academic capitalism

2013

This article draws attention to the relative lack of theoretically and methodologically elaborated approaches to understand and explain the complex relations between transnationalization of higher education and globalization seen especially from the point of view of global capitalism. The main aim of this article is to contribute to the construction of a theory of transnational academic capitalism (TAC). A theory of TAC argues that those networks, practices and activities that are blurring the boundaries between higher education, markets and states are increasingly becoming transnational without supposing that this transformation implies that local and national levels are insignificant in s…

Mercury beats Minerva? : essays on the accelerating impact of market logic permeating higher education

2015

Experiences of arbitrary management among Finnish academics in an era of academic capitalism

2020

For the last two decades, Finnish universities have faced the implementation of new systems of control and undergone dramatic changes that have worsened academic working conditions–such as corporatisation and budget cuts. This article explores Finnish academics’ experiences of university reforms with a special focus on the consequences it has had in terms of organisational socio-dynamics. We adapt Glynos and Howarth’s logics of critical explanation and apply this theoretical framework to analyse the interviews of academics who, against their own will, did not have their contracts renewed. This approach describes, explains, and criticises the logics–which are social, political and fantasmati…

Akateemisen varhaiskasvatuksen muotoutuminen

2001

Tässä tutkimuksessa rajaudutaan tarkastelemaan varhaiskasvatusta tieteenalan perspektiivistä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan akateemisen kentän muotoutumista ja varhaiskasvatuksen sisällöllistä määrittymistä. Aineistona ovat Suomen varhaiskasvatuksen professoreiden virantäyttöprosesseissa tuotetut dokumentit. Tutkimuksemme painottuu erityisesti akateemisen kentän keskeisten toimijoiden - asiantuntijoiden ja viranhakijoiden - identifioimiseen. Työmme kohdentuu lähihistoriaan ja sitä voidaan luonnehtia akateemisen varhaiskasvatuksen kentän historiaa ja muotoutumista koskevaksi perustutkimukseksi. Aineistolähtöinen sisällönanalyysi osoittaa, etteivät asiantuntijalausunnot juurikaan tuo yllätyksiä…