This paper analyses the interrelations between academic disciplines and society beyond academia by the case of sociology in Norway. For that purpose, this paper introduces the concept of disciplines’ ...societal territories, which refer to bounded societal spaces that are shaped by the knowledge of a discipline, premised on the linkages between the discipline and its audience. By mapping sociologists’ reported contributions to societal changes beyond academia, the paper firstly shows how societal territories are established by sociologists’ recurring engagement with certain topics and research users. Secondly, it traces the interactions between researchers and their users, and identifies four ideal typical pathways by which the cognitive territory of Norwegian sociology is transformed into societal territories. A key observation is that the establishment of societal territories is co-determined by the structures of research use among its audience. As for the case of sociology in Norway, questions therefore arise over the interdependency between sociologists as knowledge ‘suppliers’ and the ‘demand side’ for research, and the autonomy of the sociological discipline in selecting its focus of attention.
Abstract
The literatures on productive interactions and related frameworks depict impact processes as collaborative efforts to permeate various boundaries between research and societal stakeholders. ...However, the impact literature is biased towards looking at these processes from the researcher side. This paper analyses policymakers’ interactions with researchers and the different forms of boundary work that ensue, which contributes to improved understanding of the stakeholder side of interactions. Our point of the departure is the interactions related to Research and development (R&D) units and their networks in the central administration in Norway. Using in-depth interviews with twenty-two civil servants in the field of welfare policy, we show how the combination of competitive and collaborative modes of boundary work makes interactions productive. Because research is a strategic asset in the policy domain, control over knowledge production and autonomy to decide when to follow the evidence (or not) is a central feature of knowledge work in policy organisations.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Academic staff hold multiple identities by relating to the organization and to their profession. Merging higher education institutions involves organizational changes which may impact identities of ...academic staff. This paper studies potential impacts on staff perceptions of their organizational and academic identities through a 2-year in-depth study of a merger between a large university and three university colleges in Norway. We find that academics have multiple nested identities and engage in identification at different levels. While they may identify with the new organization, they may simultaneously experience tensions and pressures on their academic identity, or they may have strong academic identity and low identification with the new organization. Moreover, space to develop local accommodations in the new organization and access to symbolic resources plays significant roles in the identification processes.
Higher education institutions are increasingly expected to demonstrate the relevance of the education provided and establish tighter links with the labour market. The introduction of learning ...outcomes represents one such development. The article examines the extent to which various intermediary organisations are involved in decisions about learning outcomes and the consequences of this regarding the role of learning outcomes and their potential in linking higher education to the world of work. Intermediary organisations are operationalised as professional associations and trade unions. The empirical material includes data from interviews of 14 intermediary organisations with different ties to higher education. The findings show that organisations have distinctly different approaches to their involvement in learning-outcome development as well as different views on the potentials of learning outcomes as a legitimate instrument to increase the relevance of higher education. Instead of creating new links between higher education and the world of work, the processes of introducing learning outcomes reinforce existing collaboration patterns.
•We study how trade unions in Norway relate to sustainability transitions and the concept of just transition.•There is growing attention to sustainability transition among trade unions, but unions ...are divided on what a transition means.•We introduce an analytical distinction between a just transition within and away from fossil fuels.•Unions from different sectors interpret the concept of just transition differently.•Petroleum sector unions are more opposed to phase-out policies compared to non-petroleum unions.
Trade unions have received little attention in sustainability transitions research, despite their capacity to influence policy decisions. This article presents a study of how key unions in Norway a country with a large petroleum sector as well as high union level density – have moved their preferences on transition issues in the period 2007–2019. With a document-based process analysis of trade unions’ changing policy preferences and interpretations of a just transition, a concept that aims to bridge the apparent gap between destruction and creation policies, we show how trade unions have used this concept to reconcile different positions among unions. While unions from petroleumrelated sectors are more opposed to phase-out policies compared to non-petroleum unions, the solidarity principle among unions has caused some movement towards a joint support of a just transition. Yet, different unions promote different ideas of what a just transition means depending on their sector affiliation.
Norwegian climate policy has been marked by several shifts with regard to adopted targets and measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Three knowledge-based discourses - respectively a tax ...discourse, a quota discourse and a technology discourse - have been influential throughout. By tracing the development of Norwegian climate policy from 1989 until 2008, it is shown, however, that while significant in early phases of policymaking, the discourses lose influence in the phase when policy solutions are designed and implemented. Those ideas and ambitions that characterise the ruling discourses in Norwegian climate policy are not necessarily materialised in actual policy.
In this article, the participation of academic experts on Norwegian public committees is investigated to explore how their interpretation of the expert role affects the wider deliberations on such ...settings. These committees are commonly perceived as venues for the integration of organized interest on public policymaking. This study demonstrate, however, how the participation of experts on committees may contribute to alienate the explorative style of negotiation that is elsewhere described as typical for Norwegian corporatist decision-making. Despite being independent members, experts outlined their role in accordance with the professional values of their discipline, and acted as representatives of their profession on committees. This contributed to experts' bounded deliberation on these committees and the introduction of professional standards for judgment in the face of differences. The study is based on qualitative interviews with members of the past four committees advising on Norwegian climate policies.
Academic staff hold multiple identities by relating to the organization and to their profession. Merging higher education institutions involves organizational changes which may impact identities of ...academic staff. This paper studies potential impacts on staff perceptions of their organizational and academic identities through a 2-year in-depth study of a merger between a large university and three university colleges in Norway. We find that academics have multiple nested identities and engage in identification at different levels. While they may identify with the new organization, they may simultaneously experience tensions and pressures on their academic identity, or they may have strong academic identity and low identification with the new organization. Moreover, space to develop local accommodations in the new organization and access to symbolic resources plays significant roles in the identification processes.
Higher education institutions embed a large variety of organizational practices regarding how to organize, plan, and implement managerial decisions and processes. This variation is amongst others ...related to the multiple relationships the institutions, disciplines and professions have in their networks, formal agreements, and practical cooperation with the actors and agencies of surrounding societies. Here, we focus upon the challenges and contradictions experienced by leaders of educational programmes within teacher education, engineering and health and social care. The professional educational programmes have increasingly been under pressure to strengthen their research capacity. At the same time, these programmes are characterized by strong relationships with the community of practitioners. How does leadership of these programmes seek to solve the challenges and contradictions between on the one hand catering for the relevance of the programmes and on the other hand strengthening the research capacity of the programmes?
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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