Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sociology’s Past and Futures: The Impact of External Structure, Policy and Financing

  • Chapter
The Palgrave Handbook of Sociology in Britain

Abstract

The immediate context of this chapter is the radical reforms to higher education in England that were initiated after the Browne Review (2010). It recommended that undergraduate degree programmes in social sciences, arts and humanities should be wholly financed by student fees supported by a publicly underwritten system of income-contingent loans. The subsequent government White Paper (2011) modified the proposals to some degree (primarily by placing a cap on fees and student numbers because of the potentially high cost of the loan system), but reinforced the commitment to higher education understood simply as an investment in human capital. At the same time, it proposed to allow for-profit providers to compete for students with access to loans, and for universities to change their legal status to facilitate their own for-profit activities and joint ventures with for-profit companies (McGettigan, 2013).1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Abbott, Andrew (1988) The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbott, Andrew (2001) Chaos of Disciplines. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abbott, Andrew (2006) ‘Reconceptualising Knowledge Accumulation in Sociology’, American Sociologist 37(2): 57–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsop, Adrian (1999) ‘The RAE and the Production of Knowledge’, History of the Human Sciences 12: 116–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barzelay, Michael (2000) The New Public Management: Improving Research and Policy Dialogue, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, Howard (1967) ‘Whose Side Are We On?’, Social Problems 14(3): 239–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bok, Derek (2003) Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, Michael (2005) ‘For Public Sociology’, American Sociological Review 70(1): 2–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capell, Charles L and Guterbock, Thomas M. (1992) ‘Visible Colleges: The Social and Conceptual Structure of Sociology Specialities’, American Sociological Review 57: 266–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caswill, Chris and Wensley, Robin (2007) ‘Doors and Boundaries: A Recent History of the Relationship between Research and Practice in UK Organizational and Management Research’, Business History 49: 293–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, Randall (1977) Conflict Sociology: Toward and Explanatory Science. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, Diane and Small, Henry (1992) ‘American Sociology Since the Seventies: The Emerging Identity Crisis in the Discipline’, in Terence C. Halliday and Morrice Janowitz (eds), Sociology and its Publics: The Forms and Fates of Disciplinary Organization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dearing Report (1997) Higher Education in the Learning Society: The National Committee of Inquiiy into Higher Education. https://bei.leeds.ac.uk/Partners/NCIHE/, accessed 25 July 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, John (1927) The Public and its Problems. Chicago, IL: Henry Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunleavy, Patrick, and Hood, Christopher (1993) ‘From Old Public Administration to New Public Management’, Public Money and Management 14: 9–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fourcade, Marion (2009) Economists and Societies: Discipline and Profession in the United States, Britain and France, 1890s to 1990s. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, Michael; Limosges, Camille; Nowotny, Helga; Schwartzman, Simon; Scott, Peter and Trow, Martin (1994) The New Production of Knowledge. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guggenheim, Michael and Nowotny, Helga (2003) ‘Joy in Repetition Makes the Future Disappear: A Critical Assessment of the Present State of STS’, in Bernward Joerges and Helga Nowotny (eds), Social Studies of Science and Technology: Looking Back, Ahead. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halsey, A.H. (2004) a History of Sociology in Britain: Science, Literature and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Halsey, A.H. and Trow, Martin (1971) The British Academics. London: Faber and Faber.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holmwood, John (2007) ‘Sociology as Professional Practice and Public Discourse: A Critique of Michael Burawoy’, Sociological Theory 25(1): 46–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmwood, John (2010) ‘Sociology’s Misfortune: Disciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity and the Impact of Audit Culture’, British Journal of Sociology 61 (4): 639–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmwood, John (2011a) ‘Introduction’, in John Holmwood (ed.), A Manifesto for the Public University. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmwood, John (2011b) ‘Viewpoint — The Impact of “Impact” on UK Social Science’, Methodological Innovations Online 6(1). www.pbs.plym.ac.uk/mi/pdf/09–06–11/5.%20 Viewpoint%20-%20Holmwood%2013–17%20(proofed).pdf, accessed 25 July 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmwood, John (2011c) ‘The Idea of a Public University’, in John Holmwood (ed.), A Manifesto for the Public University. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarratt Report (1985) Report of the Steering Committee for Efficiency Studies in Universities. London: Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasanoff, Sheila (2004) ‘Ordering Knowledge, Ordering Society’, in Sheila Jasanoff (ed.), States of Knowledge: The Co-Production of Science and Social Order. London: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, Aidan and Burrows, Roger (2011) ‘Measuring the value of sociology? Some notes on performative metricisation in the contemporary academy’ in L. Adkins, R. Burrows and C. Lury(eds), Value and Measure. Sociological Review Monograph Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, Clark (2001 [1963]) The Uses of the University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, Desmond (1997) ‘Creating a Funding Regime for Social Research: The Heyworth Committee on Social Studies and the Founding of the British SSRC’, Minerva 35: 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, Jan-Erik (2000) New Public Management. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, Magali S. (1977) The Rise of the Professions: A Sociological Analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • London Economics (2010) Review of Student Support Arrangements in Other Countries, BIS Research Paper No 10, September. www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/31991 / 10–6 70-review-student-support-in-other-countries.pdf, accessed 25 July 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGettigan, Andrew (2013) The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, Simon and Considine, Mark (2000) The Enterprise University: Power, Governance, and Reinvention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Ben and Whitley, Richard (2010) ‘The UK Research Assessment Exercise: A Case of Regulatory Capture’ in Richard Whitley, Jochen Gläser and Lars Engwall (eds), Reconfiguring Knowledge Production: Changing Authority Relationships in the Sciences and their Consequences for Intellectual Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. Wright (1959) The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirowski, Philip (2011) Science Mart: PrivatizingAmerican Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mirowski, Philip and Plehwe, Dieter (eds) (2009) The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neo-Liberal Thought Collective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton-Smith, W.H. (1981) The Rationality of Science. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny, Helga; Scott, Peter and Gibbons, Michael (2001) Re-Thinking Science. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novotny, Helga; Scott, Peter and Gibbons, Michael (2003) ‘Introduction: “Mode 2” Revisited: The New Production of Knowledge’, Minerva 41(3): 179–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Talcott (1959) ‘Some Problems Confronting Sociology as a Profession’, American Sociological Review 24(4): 547–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrow, Charles (1984) Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, Michael (2002) ‘Social Sciences Under Attack in the UK (1981–1983)’, La Revue pour l’histoire du CNRS [En ligne] 7. http://histoire-cnrs.revues.org/547, accessed 25 July 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Michael (1999) The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins Report (1963) Higher Education: Report of the Committee Appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins 1961–63. Cmnd 2154, October 1963. www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/robbins/robbins00.html, accessed 25 July 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, Nikolas (1996) ‘Governing “Advanced” Liberal Democracies’, in A. Barry, T. Osborne and N. Rose (eds), Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism and Rationalities of Government. London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothschild Report (1971) A Framework for Government Research and Development. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, Mike (2010) ‘Unpicking Sociology’s Misfortunes’, British Journal of Sociology 61(4): 59–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savage, Mike and Burrows, Roger (2007) ‘The Coming Crisis of Empirical Sociology’, Sociology 41(5): 885–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, John (2005) ‘Sociology and its Others: Reflections on Disciplinary Specialization and Fragmentation’, Sociological Research Online 10(1). www.socresonline.org.uk/10/1/ scott.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sica, Alan and Turner, Stephen P. (2005) The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, Sheila and Leslie, Larry L. (1997) Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Sir Steve (2011) (2011) ‘A Positive Future for Higher Education in England’, in John Holmwood (ed.), A Manifesto for the Public University. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strathern, Marilyn (2000) ‘Accountability and … Ethnography’, in Marilyn Strathern (ed.), Audit Cultures: Anthropological Studies in Accountability, Ethics and the Academy. London: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Stephen P. (2001) ‘What is the Problem with Experts?’, Social Studies of Science 31(1).

    Google Scholar 

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Stephen P. (2003) Liberal Democracy 3.0: Civil Society in an Age of Experts. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Stephen P. and Turner, Jonathan H. (1990) The Impossible Science: An Institutional Analysis of American Sociology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, Richard (1984) The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, Richard. (2010) ‘Reconfiguring the Public Sciences: The Impact of Governance Changes on Authority and Innovation in the Public Science System’, in Richard Whitley, Jochen Gläser and Lars Engwall (eds), Reconfiguring Knowledge Production: Changing Authority Relationships in the Sciences and their Consequences for Intellectual Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, Alan (1992) ’Weak Sociology/ Strong Sociologists: Consequences and Contradictions of a Field in Turmoil’, Social Research 59: 759–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolgar, Steve (1998) Science: The Very Idea. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolgar, Steve; Coopmans, Catelijne and Neyland, Daniel (2007) ‘Does STS Mean Business’, Organization 16(1): 5–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yonay, Yuval P. (1998) The Struggle Over the Soul of Economics: Institutionalist and Neoclassical Economists in America between the Wars. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. John Holmwood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, UK

    John Holmwood

  2. University of Copenhagen, Denmark

    John Scott

Copyright information

© 2014 John Holmwood

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Holmwood, J. (2014). Sociology’s Past and Futures: The Impact of External Structure, Policy and Financing. In: Holmwood, J., Scott, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociology in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318862_26

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation