Creating a New Public University and Reviving Democracy: Action Research in Higher Education

Description

Public universities are in crisis, waning in their role as central institutions within democratic societies. Denunciations are abundant, but analyses of the causes and proposals to re-create public universities are not. Based on extensive experience with Action Research-based organizational change in universities and private sector organizations, Levin and Greenwood analyze the wreckage created by neoliberal academic administrators and policymakers. The authors argue that public universities must be democratically organized to perform their educational and societal functions. The book closes by laying out Action Research processes that can transform public universities back into institutions that promote academic freedom, integrity, and democracy. Contents Dedication vii Acknowledgements viii List of Figures ix Introduction: Democracy and Public Universities 1 Part I: Public Goods, Bildung, Public Universities, and Democracy 19 Chapter 1. Public Goods, Democracy, and Public Universities 21 Chapter 2. Multiple Models and Meanings of Higher Education 37 Chapter 3. Bildung, Academic Freedom, Academic Integrity, and Democracy 54 Part II: Universities as Work Organizations: Stakeholders, Structures, Systems, Steering, Leadership and Anti-Bildung 77 Chapter 4. The Work Organization of Universities: Structures 79 Chapter 5. The Work Organization of Universities: Systemic Analysis 93 Chapter 6. Processes in the Work Organization of Universities: Socio-Technical Systems Design, Networking for Power, and Neo-Taylorism 111 Chapter 7. Leadership and Steering in Public Universities 135 Part III: The Road Forward: Action Research for Neue-Bildung in Higher Education 151 Chapter 8. Action Research as a Strategy for Organizational Change 153 Chapter 9. Practicing Action Research in Public Universities 168 Conclusion: What Difference Could Action Research in Public Universities Make? 194 Bibliography 199 Index 211