Critical Qualitative Research and the Corporatized University: On a Collision Course

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

: Given the already-extant pressures arrayed against qualitative research, and given, too, the resistance to critically-oriented work, it would seem likely that, when combined with other external and internal pressures altering the landscape of higher education, there is likely to be conflict over such research. This is especially true in light of the limited or virtually non-existent monies to fund such research. Research for critical social purposes has always been limited, and monies for qualitative research has virtually disappeared over the past decade, especially with the resurgence of forces demanding controlled experimental studies as “true science.” With the press for faculty to “pay a portion of their salaries” with external funds, and be “graded” on how well they do so, those engaged in critical social science work, especially critical qualitative science, will be especially disadvantaged. The session seeks to explore the potential for conflict between the new university environment and the critical social science going on within its confines.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Qualitative Research

Chair

• Yvonna S. Lincoln, Texas A&M University - College Station

Papers

• Critical Qualitative Research and the Neoliberal Assemblage in Higher Education: Territorializing and Deterritorializing - Gaile S. Cannella, University of North Texas

• Creating a Research and Resistance Agenda for Critical Qualitative Higher Education Research - Yvonna S. Lincoln, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Small Is Beautiful: In Defense of the Diversity of Qualitative Research - Harry Torrance, Manchester Metropolitan University

• Policy, Praxis, and Research in the 21st-Century University - William G. Tierney, University of Southern California

• Key Tasks for Critical Qualitative Research in the Face of Corporate Ideology and Market Fundamentalism - Gary L. Anderson, New York University; Janelle T. Scott, University of California - Berkeley