| Preface to the First Edition | ix |
| Preface to the Second Edition | xiii |
| Abbreviations | xvi |
1 | Landscapes, Tribal Territories and Academic Cultures | 1 |
| HE in the post-industrial environment | 1 |
| The globalized landscape | 2 |
| The phenomenon of massification | 4 |
| The regulatory state | 6 |
| The triple helix | 7 |
| Marketizing knowledge | 8 |
| Economy, efficiency and effectiveness | 10 |
| Patterns of growth and fragmentation | 14 |
| Changing landscapes, shifting territories | 15 |
| Levels of analysis | 19 |
| Note | 22 |
2 | Points of Departure | 23 |
| Relating tribes and territories | 23 |
| The source material | 25 |
| Academic cultures and structural location | 27 |
| Some landmarks in the argument | 28 |
| The pieces of the patchwork | 29 |
| Restrictions and paradigms | 31 |
| Knowledge as portrayed by the knower | 33 |
| Characteristics of subject matter | 35 |
| Notes | 40 |
3 | Academic Disciplines | 41 |
| The nature of a discipline | 41 |
| Disciplines and organizational structures | 41 |
| Global disciplines: unity and diversity | 43 |
| Tribalism and tradition | 44 |
| Disciplinary socialization | 47 |
| Some relevant writings | 51 |
| Some complicating factors | 54 |
| Notes | 57 |
4 | Overlaps, Boundaries and Specialisms | 58 |
| Adjoining territories | 58 |
| Areas of common ground | 60 |
| The cause of unification | 62 |
| Disciplines under the microscope | 64 |
| The notion of a specialism | 65 |
| Some social considerations | 68 |
| Some cognitive considerations | 70 |
| Types of specialization | 71 |
| Frames of reference | 72 |
| Notes | 73 |
5 | Aspects of Community Life | 75 |
| The quest for recognition | 75 |
| The way to get on | 78 |
| Pecking orders, elites and the Matthew effect | 81 |
| Leading academics, gatekeepers and the exercise of power | 84 |
| Peer review and the process of validation | 86 |
| Networks and social circles | 90 |
| The influence of fashion | 95 |
| Reactions to innovative ideas | 97 |
| The revolutionary and the normal | 100 |
| Notes | 101 |
6 | Patterns of Communication | 104 |
| The life-blood of academia | 104 |
| Population density | 105 |
| Urban and rural scenarios | 106 |
| Informal communication channels | 108 |
| Formal modes of interchange | 110 |
| Speed, frequency and length of publication | 112 |
| Citation practices and their implications | 114 |
| Questions of style and accessibility | 116 |
| Competition | 118 |
| Collaboration | 122 |
| Controversy | 126 |
| Some significant distinctions | 128 |
| Notes | 129 |
7 | Academic Careers | 131 |
| Personality and environment | 131 |
| Recruitment and the choice of specialisms | 134 |
| The achievement of independence | 136 |
| The mid-life crisis | 140 |
| The end-point of active research | 144 |
| Personal matters | 147 |
| Women's academic careers | 149 |
| Race, ethnicity and academic careers | 153 |
| Notes | 156 |
8 | The Wider Context | 159 |
| The academy in the marketplace | 159 |
| Academics as social animals | 161 |
| Outside influences on specialist groups | 165 |
| Disciplinary status and power | 170 |
| Knowledge domains and social relevance | 176 |
| Notes | 179 |
9 | Implications for Theory and Practice | 181 |
| Tidying up the categories | 181 |
| The basic dimensions | 183 |
| Applying the taxonomy | 186 |
| Connections between categories | 189 |
| A further note on status | 191 |
| Diversity and its consequences | 194 |
| Managerialist intervention and academic autonomy | 200 |
| Mutual understandings and common causes | 204 |
| Notes | 206 |
Appendix | Data for the Initial Study | 208 |
| Subject coverage | 208 |
| Methods of data collection | 208 |
| Variables in the research design | 211 |
| Bibliography | 213 |
| Index | 236 |
| The Society for Research into Higher Education | 239 |