Toward a Processual Sociology of the Modern University System

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 9. Expansion of Higher Education

Abstract

This paper argues that the familiar historical sociological notion of the ‘dual revolution’ that began around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, should be analysed as a ‘triple revolution’, with the additional process called here the ‘academization process’ taken into account. This refers to the emergence and ascendance of the modern university system and the academic profession, which came to occupy a central position in a field of professions. The paper explains why previous functionalist and critical accounts of this trend are insufficient, before recommending an alternative processual theoretical framework drawn largely from the work of Andrew Abbott and Norbert Elias. The substance of the academization process is outlined, suggesting that five factors were central to the rise of the university: 1) changes in the class structure; 2) displacement of religion; 3) imperialism; 4) changing roles of women, children and disabled populations; 5) science and technology.

Author

• Eric Lybeck, University of Exeter