Academic tribes and territories : intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines

How do academics perceive themselves and colleagues in their own disciplines, and how do they rate those in other subjects? How closely related are their intellectual tasks and their ways of organizing their professional lives? What are the interconnections between academic cultures and the nature of disciplines? This title maps academic knowledge and explores the diverse characteristics of those who inhabit and cultivate it.

Author Notes

Tony Becher was Professor of Education at the University of Sussex
Paul Trowler is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University

Preface to the First Edition	p. ix
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xvi
1 Landscapes, Tribal Territories and Academic Cultures	p. 1
HE in the post-industrial environment	p. 1
The globalized landscape	p. 2
The phenomenon of massification	p. 4
The regulatory state	p. 6
The triple helix	p. 7
Marketizing knowledge	p. 8
Economy, efficiency and effectiveness	p. 10
Patterns of growth and fragmentation	p. 14
Changing landscapes, shifting territories	p. 15
Levels of analysis	p. 19
Note	p. 22
2 Points of Departure	p. 23
Relating tribes and territories	p. 23
The source material	p. 25
Academic cultures and structural location	p. 27
Some landmarks in the argument	p. 28
The pieces of the patchwork	p. 29
Restrictions and paradigms	p. 31
Knowledge as portrayed by the knower	p. 33
Characteristics of subject matter	p. 35
Notes	p. 40
3 Academic Disciplines	p. 41
The nature of a discipline	p. 41
Disciplines and organizational structures	p. 41
Global disciplines: unity and diversity	p. 43
Tribalism and tradition	p. 44
Disciplinary socialization	p. 47
Some relevant writings	p. 51
Some complicating factors	p. 54
Notes	p. 57
4 Overlaps, Boundaries and Specialisms	p. 58
Adjoining territories	p. 58
Areas of common ground	p. 60
The cause of unification	p. 62
Disciplines under the microscope	p. 64
The notion of a specialism	p. 65
Some social considerations	p. 68
Some cognitive considerations	p. 70
Types of specialization	p. 71
Frames of reference	p. 72
Notes	p. 73
5 Aspects of Community Life	p. 75
The quest for recognition	p. 75
The way to get on	p. 78
Pecking orders, elites and the Matthew effect	p. 81
Leading academics, gatekeepers and the exercise of power	p. 84
Peer review and the process of validation	p. 86
Networks and social circles	p. 90
The influence of fashion	p. 95
Reactions to innovative ideas	p. 97
The revolutionary and the normal	p. 100
Notes	p. 101
6 Patterns of Communication	p. 104
The life-blood of academia	p. 104
Population density	p. 105
Urban and rural scenarios	p. 106
Informal communication channels	p. 108
Formal modes of interchange	p. 110
Speed, frequency and length of publication	p. 112
Citation practices and their implications	p. 114
Questions of style and accessibility	p. 116
Competition	p. 118
Collaboration	p. 122
Controversy	p. 126
Some significant distinctions	p. 128
Notes	p. 129
7 Academic Careers	p. 131
Personality and environment	p. 131
Recruitment and the choice of specialisms	p. 134
The achievement of independence	p. 136
The mid-life crisis	p. 140
The end-point of active research	p. 144
Personal matters	p. 147
Women's academic careers	p. 149
Race, ethnicity and academic careers	p. 153
Notes	p. 156
8 The Wider Context	p. 159
The academy in the marketplace	p. 159
Academics as social animals	p. 161
Outside influences on specialist groups	p. 165
Disciplinary status and power	p. 170
Knowledge domains and social relevance	p. 176
Notes	p. 179
9 Implications for Theory and Practice	p. 181
Tidying up the categories	p. 181
The basic dimensions	p. 183
Applying the taxonomy	p. 186
Connections between categories	p. 189
A further note on status	p. 191
Diversity and its consequences	p. 194
Managerialist intervention and academic autonomy	p. 200
Mutual understandings and common causes	p. 204
Notes	p. 206
Appendix Data for the Initial Study	p. 208
Subject coverage	p. 208
Methods of data collection	p. 208
Variables in the research design	p. 211
Bibliography	p. 213
Index	p. 236
The Society for Research into Higher Education	p. 239

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