Research, policy and funding - academic treadmills and the squeeze on intellectual spaces
Research, policy and funding - academic treadmills and the squeeze on intellectual spaces
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01307.x
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发表时间：
2010-03-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Smith, Katherine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Smith, Katherine
近年来，关于社会科学家在社会中的角色，出现了大量的集体思考。在1997年后的英国背景下，对‘循证政策’和‘知识转移’的公共政策承诺进一步刺激了这种反思。最近，迈克尔·布拉沃伊(Michael Burawoy)2004年在美国社会学协会(American Social Ology Association)发表的演讲呼吁更多地参与“公共社会学”，在整个学科中引起了反响，引发了一系列关于社会学研究目的的辩论。到目前为止，大多数这样的贡献都是基于个人经验和轶事证据。相反，这篇论文直接回应了Burawoy的建议，即我们应该“将社会学应用于我们自己”，以便我们“更多地意识到推动我们研究的全球力量”(Burawoy 2005：285)。本文利用一项旨在探索苏格兰和英格兰1997年至2007年期间健康不平等研究与政策之间关系的实证研究项目，对学术研究人员的访谈数据进行了讨论。研究结果表明，越来越大的压力要求进行与政策相关的研究，这削弱了学术界为创新和变革性想法提供发展空间的能力，而是促进了制度化和机构化(变色龙)想法的构建。这一论断支持了爱德华·赛义德(Edward Said)(1994)的坚持，即社会科学中创造性的智力空间正日益受到挤压。更具体地说，这篇论文认为，我们应该更多地关注寻求研究资金的过程如何塑造学术研究，并协调研究与政策之间的相互作用。
In recent years, there has been a great deal of collective rumination about social scientists' role in society. In the post-1997 UK context, public policy commitments to 'evidence-based policy' and 'knowledge transfer' have further stimulated such reflections. More recently, Michael Burawoy's 2004 address to the American Sociological Association, which called for greater engagement with 'public sociology' has reverberated throughout the discipline, motivating a series of debates about the purpose of sociological research. To date, most such contributions have been based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. In contrast, this paper responds directly to Burawoy's suggestion that we should 'apply sociology to ourselves,' in order that we 'become more conscious of the global forces' driving our research (Burawoy 2005: 285). Drawing on an empirical research project designed to explore of the relationship between health inequalities research and policy in Scotland and England, in the period from 1997 until 2007, this paper discusses data from interviews with academic researchers. The findings suggest that the growing pressure to produce 'policy relevant' research is diminishing the capacity of academia to provide a space in which innovative and transformative ideas can be developed, and is instead promoting the construction of institutionalized and vehicular (chameleon-like) ideas. Such a claim supports Edward Said's (1994) insistence that creative, intellectual spaces within the social sciences are increasingly being squeezed. More specifically, the paper argues we ought to pay far greater attention to how the process of seeking research funding shapes academic research and mediates the interplay between research and policy.