Corporate Culture Has No Place in Academia. Hallonsten, O. 538(7623):7.
Corporate Culture Has No Place in Academia [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
'Academic capitalism' contributed to the mishandling of the Macchiarini case by officials at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, argues Olof Hallonsten. [Excerpt] [...] As academic capitalism spreads, universities abandon traditional meritocratic and collegial governance to hunt money, prestige and a stronger brand. [...] Yet this conduct goes against fundamental values of academia – the careful scrutiny of all claims, and of the research (and teaching) portfolios of those making such claims. This core principle in the self-organization of the academic system (studied by sociologists Robert Merton and Pierre Bourdieu, among others) is intended to guarantee that science progresses and delivers knowledge and technology to society that is as accurate as possible and not gained unethically. [] Academic capitalism runs counter to these ideals, subsuming achievement in research and teaching to attainment of economic goals and quantitatively oriented (and shallow) performance assessments and rankings. Academic self-regulation and vocational autonomy are replaced with external control by audit and management. The individual's struggle for recognition in science is colonized by university managers, who use the achievements of scientists and students to accumulate capital (economic, symbolic and cultural, in Bourdieu's terms), and thus increase the visibility of their university. [...]
@article{hallonstenCorporateCultureHas2016,
  title = {Corporate Culture Has No Place in Academia},
  author = {Hallonsten, Olof},
  date = {2016-10},
  journaltitle = {Nature},
  volume = {538},
  pages = {7},
  issn = {0028-0836},
  doi = {10.1038/538007a},
  url = {http://mfkp.org/INRMM/article/14152469},
  abstract = {'Academic capitalism' contributed to the mishandling of the Macchiarini case by officials at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, argues Olof Hallonsten.

[Excerpt] [...] As academic capitalism spreads, universities abandon traditional meritocratic and collegial governance to hunt money, prestige and a stronger brand. [...] Yet this conduct goes against fundamental values of academia -- the careful scrutiny of all claims, and of the research (and teaching) portfolios of those making such claims. This core principle in the self-organization of the academic system (studied by sociologists Robert Merton and Pierre Bourdieu, among others) is intended to guarantee that science progresses and delivers knowledge and technology to society that is as accurate as possible and not gained unethically.

[] Academic capitalism runs counter to these ideals, subsuming achievement in research and teaching to attainment of economic goals and quantitatively oriented (and shallow) performance assessments and rankings. Academic self-regulation and vocational autonomy are replaced with external control by audit and management. The individual's struggle for recognition in science is colonized by university managers, who use the achievements of scientists and students to accumulate capital (economic, symbolic and cultural, in Bourdieu's terms), and thus increase the visibility of their university. [...]},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14152469,~to-add-doi-URL,epistemology,human-health,peer-review,publish-or-perish,research-funding,research-management,research-metrics,science-ethics,scientific-misconduct},
  number = {7623}
}

Downloads: 0