Power at the interfaces : the contested orderings of academic presents and futures in a social department / Tereza Stöckel

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V. Foreign Higher Education and Education Systems, International Relations, Bilateral Relations
B. Essays, Commentaries, Statements

Author	STÖCKELOVA, Tereza
Title	Power at the interfaces : the contested orderings of academic presents and futures in a social department / Tereza Stöckel
Publication year	2014
Source/Footnote	In: Higher education policy. - 27 (2014) 4, S. 435 - 451
Inventory number	37314
Keywords	Ausland : Tschechien : einzelne Hochschulen ; Ausland : Tschechien : Forschung, Hochschullehrer
Abstract	The changes in and transformations of academic institutions and practices we are currently witnessing are complex. I argue that there are no clear-cut historical transitions between different regimes of science, such as from the ?public knowledge regime? to ?academic capitalism?. Drawing upon John Law?s analysis of ?modes of ordering?, I investigated the multiplicity of academic realities at a leading social science department at a university in the Czech Republic. Using ethnographic data generated during my fieldwork in the department in 2006?2008, I explore how the modes of ordering operate and how they are strategically mobilised by different actors. In contrast to Law, I particularly focus on the interfaces and switches between modes, where, I observe, power is prominently enacted. I conclude by arguing that resistance to the rising managerial governance of universities cannot simply resort to citing the ?traditional? academic values of autonomy, vocation and internal quality but must also challenge those values. (HRK / Abstract übernommen)