3.3 KiB
2016-11-30
Philosophy of Social Research - Disciplines and Interdisciplinarity academia UoN
Neoliberlisation of the academy and the rule of 'regulatory audit'
mode 1 knowledge and mode 2 knowledge
The old ways of doing thing mean a domination of mode 1, which follows that there is a hierarchy of social sciences, while the current domination of mode 2 means a new practical, problems based trans-disciplinary field of social studies, beyond even interdisciplinary
John does not like this change because it results in the weakening of disciplinary standards'
importer and exporter disciplines
John shows 4 recent studies to identify different aspects of the structure of sociology as a discipline
Comparison between economics and sociology as two exporter disciplines
greater integration of economics as a discipline means that its sub-fields are more likely to be reproduced across national contexts, while those of sociology are much more likely to be subject to national variation.
John is seeing sociology breaking down into smaller, independent disciplines like criminology, social policy, etc… I do not see a strong argument for maintaining a strong, coherent sociology
Does sociology have a core?
John suggests that current forms of research governance in the UK are such that any conventionally represented ‘professional core’ of sociology as well as its supposed ‘critical alternatives’ are both diminished.
In this context, the ‘core’ of the discipline lies not in concepts, categories or in methods (all of which are very significant products of practices of knowledge production), but in a sensibility
My remarks
- so what?
- My own remark is how the mode 1 and mode 2 debate is different and
influenced by the debate at natural sciences between basic science and applied sciences.
- Perhaps the problem is the current self-perceived boundary of
sociology and its relation to other disciplines. Society as John sees it is indeed in crisis, but he also wants to see it higher in the hierarchy of social science than other disciplines. Perhaps what is needed is a redefinition of what sociology is to encompass the whole of social science, a centre and periphery or a nebula model of what 'sociology' is to the rest of the bigger discipline, and a stronger critique at the other disciplines, namely economics, trying to occupy that central position. Sociology's sensibility and criticism should be directed outwards.
Lecture
John is a post-positivist, yet he sees a necessity of keeping disciplines the way they are. No?
Aren't disciplines, like political parties, redundant? All we need is journals, peer-reviewing, and academic associations.
Government political control over universities is now happening by the revocation of Royal Charters, putting them under the government instead of the Privy Council
What is a better model? Privy Council, or two thirds parliamentary majority?
Recruit John to design a higher education model based on regenerative economy, where universities are directly supported by the community
Economics, sociology, psychology have applied interdisciplinarity
Critical interdisciplinarity