The research 'game' : a sociological study of academic research work in two universities

Abstract

One of the most important changes to UK higher education in the last ten years has been
\nthe funding of research within universities and particularly the introduction of the
\nResearch Assessment Exercise (RAE). This thesis is concerned with the organisation of
\nresearch work within universities and possible impacts of this change in government
\npolicy on the research activities within university departments.
\nMuch of the recent literature on academics has documented their declining status and
\npersistent undervaluing (Halsey, 1995). The decrease in government funding to higher
\neducation and the increase in processes of accountability and assessment are argued to
\nweaken academic autonomy and further the `proletarianisation' of academic work.
\nFurther research, however, has raised the question of whether academics are quite so
\npassive in their response to policy changes. Trowler (1998) argues that academics are
\nactive agents in their implementation of policy within institutional settings.
\nThis thesis investigates the disciplinary and institutional structural processes that govern
\nacademic work and analyses in detail the inter-relationship of these structures with the
\npractices of academics. Bourdieu's framework for the analysis of the relationship
\nbetween structure and agency is used in this study. He argues that there are many social
\nfields within which agents struggle to accumulate forms of symbolic capital. His concept
\nof habitus encapsulates the complex inter-relationship he postulates between structure
\nand agency. Bourdieu is often criticised for being overly deterministic in his analysis of
\nhuman agency. This thesis attempts to counteract this charge by placing the analysis at
\nthe site of interaction of field (structure) and habitus (agency). It is a collective case study
\nof the organisational, managerial and ideational structures (Grenfell and James, 1998)
\nfound within six university departments and the involvement of academics in the
\nreproduction and resistance of those structures. The way in which the RAE serves to
\nreproduce and/or reconstruct the disciplinary and institutional structures discussed is also
\nof central concern to this thesis.
\nThe study concludes that the RAE has had a profound impact on the forms of
\nconstruction and evaluation within academic life but that this is mediated through the
\ncomplex variety of organisational, managerial and ideational structures within institutions
\nand across disciplines. Similarly, the positioning of individuals within institutional and
\ndisciplinary structures is important for understanding their particular struggles and
\nstrategies for recognition. This is most acute in struggles over the classification of
\nresearch and non research active which has significantly increased the differentiation of
\nacademics within departments. This thesis also concludes by arguing that a greater
\nunderstanding of the individual academics location within the context of specific
\ninstitutional interactions will provide a necessary addition to Bourdieu's framework of
\nanalysis.