Abstract
In this chapter, I consider the idea of research as a calling in contrast to the deprofessionalised research culture that she sees developing. The new professionalism, in the author’s view, lacks the key factor of a value-based standard for good work. Instead, the new professional ethics has as its starting point the rejection of all values except instrumentality. Research and higher education, the last bastions of independent professional judgement, have now also fallen victim to “good governance”. The consequences of the loss of independent judgement in academe are vast, since one of the main justifications for the existence of universities is to train and develop the capacity for professional judgement in all fields.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
Blomqvist, G. (1992). Elfenbenstorn eller statsskepp?: stat, universitet och akademisk frihet i vardag och vision från Agardh till Schück (Bibliotheca historica Lundensis 71). Lund: Lund University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2000). Les structures sociales de l’economie. Paris: Seuil.
Brint, S. (1994). In an age of experts: The changing role of professionals in politics and public life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Johnson, E., & Sjögren, E. (2012). Governing by drugs: The denial of subsidy for viagra use in Sweden. In B. Larsson et al. (Eds.), Transformations of the Swedish welfare state. From social engineering to governance. Basingstoke/Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.
Larson, M. S. (1977). The rise of professionalism: A sociological analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Poovey, M. (1998). A history of the modern fact: Problems of knowledge in the science of wealth and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Porter, T. (1995). Trust in numbers: The pursuit of objectivity in science and public life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Powell, W. (1991). Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organisation. In G. Thompson et al. (Eds.), Markets, hierarchies and networks: The co-ordination of social life. London: Sage.
Svensson, L. G. (2006). New professionalism, trust and competence some conceptual remarks and empirical data. Current Sociology, 54(4), 579–593.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hasselberg, Y. (2013). In Defence of Discretion. In: Rider, S., Hasselberg, Y., Waluszewski, A. (eds) Transformations in Research, Higher Education and the Academic Market. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5249-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5249-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5248-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5249-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)