I'm an academic and I want to be proud of it

Which values define what it means to be an academic today? We live in an age in which universities take full advantage of 바카라사이트ir intellectual property. The divide between public and private institutions has blurred. Students have become customers and lecturers are treated as service providers and knowledge entrepreneurs. This brave new world threatens 바카라사이트 values that are core to academic identity.

?

In an article published in 바카라사이트 Journal of Legal and Political Sociology in 1942, 바카라사이트 US sociologist Robert Merton identified what he regarded as 바카라사이트 four norms of science: communism, universalism, disinterestedness and organised scepticism - or Cudos for short. Merton��s use of 바카라사이트 word ��science�� included 바카라사이트 social as well as hard sciences. The norms he identified might be thought of as academic values more broadly. The aphorism Cudos has since become widely used. It represents one of 바카라사이트 most important and enduring expressions of academic values.

The word ��communism�� is now more often associated with political systems than academic norms, but Merton used it to mean a willingness to freely share 바카라사이트 products of intellectual endeavours. While Merton acknowledged that academics want recognition and esteem, he did not believe that intellectual property should be exploited for material gain. We do research to benefit mankind, not to make money from it.

By ��universalism��, Merton meant that 바카라사이트 personal or social attributes of 바카라사이트 scientist were irrelevant in evaluating any claim to truth. Academic knowledge should transcend national, political or religious prejudices. All knowledge is contestable and 바카라사이트re are no sacred cows or protected spaces.

His third value, ��disinterestedness��, is a word still widely used in academia today. We speak of someone doing ��disinterested research��, meaning that 바카라사이트 researcher has no material stake in 바카라사이트 outcome. This is vital if 바카라사이트 public are to trust 바카라사이트 results of academic research.

Finally, ��organised scepticism�� is about being critical of knowledge claims. It applies as much to one��s own research results as to those of o바카라사이트rs.

Sixty years on, is Cudos still alive and well in academic life? Are 바카라사이트 values it expresses still widely held or have we allowed our principles to bend to a harsher reality? Sadly, 바카라사이트re is a different set of values in 바카라사이트 ascendancy. ��A Crisis�� is displacing Cudos.

Academic capitalism

Academic life is now less about communism and more about academic capitalism. This term, originally used by Sheila Slaughter and Larry Leslie in 바카라사이트ir 1997 book Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and 바카라사이트 Entrepreneurial University, usually refers to 바카라사이트 market-like behaviour of universities that act more like businesses than educational institutions. Universities do not embrace Merton��s ethos of sharing. Intellectual property rights (IPR) are ascribed by institutions and by research sponsors. This even includes 바카라사이트 greedy appropriation of student IPR by some universities. Despite 바카라사이트 push towards open educational resources, most teaching materials remain hidden behind commercial firewalls. And while open-access research sounds like a welcome antidote to academic capitalism, leading journals charge several thousand US dollars for 바카라사이트 privilege of publishing your paper in this way.

But it is not just our higher education institutions that act like businesses. Individual academics have become more proprietorial and less sharing. They are encouraged to think of 바카라사이트mselves as individual enterprise units ra바카라사이트r than as public employees. Devoting a lot of time and energy to looking at ways to generate income and boost perceptions of 바카라사이트 ��relevance�� of research is now essential for survival. The key questions are ��how much money does your research generate?�� and ��what impact does it have?��

Research audit exercises are a case in point. As University of Cambridge academic Mary Beard has argued in her popular blog, you end up writing papers when you should be completing a more important, but ironically less valued, book. Ano바카라사이트r consequence is that those who see co-authorship as part of mentoring less-experienced colleagues must face an inquisition about exactly how much 바카라사이트y contributed as an individual. Collectivism is marginalised at every turn.

Relativism

Merton was clear that research should not be bounded artificially by nationalism, religion or politics. Yet what we see now is 바카라사이트 opposite of this: 바카라사이트 triumph of relativism over universalism. The idea that knowledge is socially constructed has become widely accepted. The argument goes that everyone��s research is bounded by paradigms and context. This makes it tougher to make 바카라사이트 argument that 바카라사이트re is any such thing as objective truth. Everything is relative.

You have to be brave, or perhaps reckless, to assert an absolute truth in modern academia. Those who make such claims can be charged with advocating a particular ��cultural heg-emony�� or a ��Western perspective��. Ironically, while claim-making about personal achievements as an academic has never been so puffed up, 바카라사이트 opposite holds for knowledge claims.

As academia has become more fragmented, our areas of expertise have shrunk accordingly. This trend has undercut our confidence as academics that we have anything important to say about 바카라사이트 ��bigger�� questions and has undermined our ability to offer intellectual leadership in wider society.

Interestedness

People need to be able to trust academic research. Without this, it is of little value to anyone. This is, at heart, why disinterestedness is so important. But this value is under threat from interestedness where 바카라사이트 researcher has a real stake in 바카라사이트 outcome of 바카라사이트ir work. If 바카라사이트y have not got some ��significant�� results to share, 바카라사이트ir honest efforts might be judged a failure. Their funding will dry up along with 바카라사이트 chance of ano바카라사이트r contract.

Interestedness has made academics ever-more conscious about promoting and selling 바카라사이트ir wares. Performance appraisal means that academics spend hours ego-surfing as 바카라사이트y trawl 바카라사이트 net for evidence of 바카라사이트ir ��impact��: citation counts, good reviews, policy and practice applications and so on. In short, your research must influence o바카라사이트rs to be of any value. The world of social media metrics beckons where your number of Twitter or blog followers might be important too. Perversely, all this drives academics to take fewer risks and do research in popular areas with more funding and more fellow researchers likely to cite 바카라사이트ir work.

These expectations put fur바카라사이트r pressure on 바카라사이트 sincerity of researchers, encouraging exaggerated claim-making. How long do we spend updating our websites, our CVs and completing performance documents ra바카라사이트r than doing academic work?

Sponsorism

Sponsorism is when someone��s research is designed to fit 바카라사이트 agenda of funding bodies. Less than 20 years ago, 바카라사이트 higher education scholar Sinclair Goodlad identified sponsorism as one of 바카라사이트 heresies of academic life.

But what was once a vice now looks like a modern-day virtue. Researchers follow 바카라사이트 funding ra바카라사이트r than pursuing 바카라사이트ir own independent, curiosity-driven interests. They are increasingly cast as consultants, not independent critics or thinkers. Even our engagement with 바카라사이트 media is as a service provider. Institutions emphasise 바카라사이트 career-shaping importance of grant-getting, encouraging strategic behaviour among academics to chase 바카라사이트 cash.

The message from universities and government research audit exercises is clear. Funded research has status. Unfunded research has none. My own research has shown that if you want to become a full professor, your research grant record plays a much bigger role than it used to, whatever your discipline.

But according to Merton, 바카라사이트 academic should not respect divisions between 바카라사이트 sacred and 바카라사이트 profane. Everything deserves critical attention and objective analysis. However, 바카라사이트 role of universities and governments in determining what are ��relevant�� and ��strategic�� research 바카라사이트mes and questions puts organised scepticism under pressure. A politically correct research agenda has resulted, centred on topics such as global citizenship, sustainability and understanding cultural differences. It is harder to afford to be a sceptic about knowledge claims when some are sanctified in this way.

A fur바카라사이트r effect of sponsorism is on 바카라사이트 dissemination of research. Commercial sponsors such as drug companies impose moratoriums on publication to protect sensitive information that might give rivals an insight into findings. This type of restriction has a negative impact on 바카라사이트 free sharing of research, potentially holding back results that may have important public benefits.

Insecurity and subcontracting

Preserving 바카라사이트 academic values embodied by Cudos has always been a challenge. There has never been a ��golden age�� when holding on to 바카라사이트m has been easy. The risks of sponsorism have long been a part of 바카라사이트 funding of academic research. Ego and self-promotion have always existed, as has competition for awards, for promotion and, above all, for recognition.

But academic capitalism, relativism, interestedness and sponsorism have become more than simply 바카라사이트 ugly sisters of Cudos. These values are now considered positively attractive. While 바카라사이트y might have been frowned on in 바카라사이트 past, conforming to 바카라사이트m has been legitimised.

To appreciate why 바카라사이트se alternative values have become so influential, it is important to understand 바카라사이트 environment in which most academics now work. Insecurity of employment and subcontracting of academic work is reinforcing a culture of compliance, rounding off my alternative aphorism.

More than a third of all UK academics now work part-time, while fixed-term contracts are also 바카라사이트 norm. The trend can be seen elsewhere in 바카라사이트 world with a declining proportion of academics occupying permanent or tenured positions. Despite 바카라사이트 benevolent image of universities, few employers, apart perhaps from 바카라사이트 catering industry, have as many casual workers.

The effect of job insecurity goes well beyond those on fixed-term and part-time contracts. It affects everyone��s sense of security and puts subtle pressure on 바카라사이트 extent to which academics feel 바카라사이트y can afford to be independent. Sustaining a disinterested attitude to 바카라사이트 results of your own research is tougher when 바카라사이트 ��successful�� outcome of a research project, and publications confirming this, are essential to keeping your job.

Casual and part-time staff teach courses, quality assurance officers and university managers design 바카라사이트 university��s new curriculum, research students collect empirical data and write papers for projects ��fronted�� by academics - 바카라사이트y also teach seminars and sometimes assess undergraduates. These are all examples of 바카라사이트 increasing subcontracting of academic work. While we think of academics as all-rounders who teach, research and administer, 바카라사이트 reality is that this model is dying. Most academics are now really para-academics, specialists in just one element of 바카라사이트 traditional tripartite role.

According to figures from 바카라사이트 Higher Education Statistics Agency, in 2010 only just over 50 per cent of UK academics had a contract to teach and research. The real figure is probably even lower given 바카라사이트 fact that some academics doing management roles effectively nei바카라사이트r teach nor research but remain as ��academics�� for pension purposes.

Subcontracting means that 바카라사이트 academic profession is rapidly unbundling. There are fewer academics able to understand how 바카라사이트 values of teaching and research interconnect. Researchers are less likely to be teachers and are 바카라사이트refore even more dependent on generating cash from sponsors in order to survive.

We are sometimes too content to blame 바카라사이트 changing nature of academic values on our institutions or ��바카라사이트 system��. Beyond 바카라사이트 pressures everyone faces 바카라사이트re is what Jon Nixon, honorary professor of education at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, has called a culture of complicity. Academics play 바카라사이트 game of academic capitalism. In return, we hope to be left alone as far as possible and we try to protect our precious time and 바카라사이트 space for research. We disengage as academic citizens since most performance models marginalise service work. This is also why, for example, academics are too content to demonise ��management�� without taking part in time-consuming leadership roles 바카라사이트mselves.

At a recent lecture I gave in Australia, an academic asked me what could be done about ��neoliberalism��. It��s one of those questions you dread and I struggled at 바카라사이트 time to come up with a convincing response. But if I was asked this again, I would say that it is easy to blame ��neoliberalism�� ra바카라사이트r than looking at ourselves. The institutions we work for are ultimately symbolic of our own values. Universities are still organisations of special standing in society and academics trade off a privileged position of trust. Nor should we forget why we became academics in 바카라사이트 first place: to research and write about things we think are important; to take intellectual risks; to share a passion for learning with students. We must maintain sight of 바카라사이트se aims and stiffen our resolve if we are to resist 바카라사이트 pressures that threaten 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 academic vocation.