For those baby boomers who would like to become

For those baby boomers who would like to become

-Compose a 300 word summary of Becher (1994) I will upload the article-Follow the instruction I uploaded.-Using the data organizer I upload take care to HOW to conduct HIR context data and logics analyses-Using the methods (e.g. skim cut-count-define) for each of the 3 analyses that constitute basic narrative analysisStudies in Higher Education Volume 19 No. 2 1994 151The Significance of DisciplinaryDifferencesTONY BECHERUniversity of SussexABSTRACT Although it is evident that disciplines have their distinctive cultural characteristics thisconsideration tends to be largely overlooked in research into as well as policy-making within highereducation. The paper aims to draw attention to some of the resulting inadequacies in analysis andto explore their consequences. After offering an overview of the various disciplinary cultures itexamines different facets of academic activity at the macro meso and micro levels and suggests thatin each case the differences between disciplines are important enough to merit general recognition. Theauthor concludes with a brief speculation on why the issue is so widely neglected.IntroductionThe central concem of this paper is to explore some of the key distinctions between differentdisciplines and the implications of such distinctions for higher education research policy andpractice. It is arguable that disciplines are the life-blood of higher education: alongsideacademic institutions they provide its main organising base (Clark 1983) and its main socialframework. This makes it the more puzzling that they figure so modestly in much highereducation research. There are notable exceptions some of which will shortly be mentioned.The arguments in this paper however derive mainly from two long-term empirical investigationsundertaken by the author. The first which occupied most of the period from 1980 to1988 (Becher 1989) involved a study of research norms and practices in 12 contrastingdisciplinary fields (biology chemistry economics engineering geography history lawmathematics modem languages pharmacy physics and sociology). The second whichbegan in 1988 and was completed in 1993 focused specifically on the issue of graduateeducation in six of the same fields. Altogether some 350 in-depth semi-structured interviewswith academics and research students provided the main data for the two studies.The outcomes of these enquiries suggest among other things that knowledge communitiescan usefully be categorised at four different levels of generality. First there is the broadlevel of the academic profession as a whole. Even though as Bailey (1977) notes universitiesare composed of different tribes they nevertheless operate as a community culture:Each tribe has a name and a territory settles it own affairs goes to war with othershas a distinct language or at least a distinct dialect and a variety of symbolic waysof demonstrating its aparmess from others. Nevertheless the whole set of tribespossess a common culture: their ways of construing the world and the people wholive in it are sufficiently similar for them to be able to understand more or less eachothers culture and even when necessary to communicate with members of othertribes. Universities possess a single culture which directs interaction between themany distinct and often mutually hostile groups.Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014152 T. BecherTABLE I. Broad disciplinary groupingsBiglan Kolb Disciplinary areasHard pure Abstract reflective Natural sciencesSoft pure Concrete reflective Humanities and social sciencesHard applied Abstract active Science-based professionsSoft applied Concrete active Social professionsHarman (1990) too notes in her cultural study of the University of Melbourne thatDetected from an emerging babel of conflicting voices divergent interests and dividedloyalties were aspects of a common culture which encapsulated a deeply entrenchedunwritten occupational ethos.But if one examines this community in more detail it is possible to discern with Biglan(1973) and Kolb (1981) four main intellectual clusters which Biglan labels hard pure softpure hard applied and soft applied and Kolb describes as abstract reflective concretereflective abstract active and concrete active. In each case these divisions are identifiedrespectively with the natural sciences the humanities and social sciences the science-basedprofessions and the social professions (see Table 1). The coincidence of their analyses issignificant given that Biglans initial concem was with the nature of the subject-matter ofresearch while Kolbs was with styles of intellectual enquiry.Within this fourfold typology one can further distinguish the separate disciplines andprofessional groupings. Here though there are some tricky borderline cases there is also avery significant consensus about what counts as a discipline and what does not. While someanalysts (e.g. Toulmin 1972) focus on epistemological considerations presenting disciplinesas each characterised by its body of concepts methods and fimdamental aims and otherssuch as Whitley (1984) define them as organised social groupings most agree with Price(1970) in seeing both elements as essentialwe cannot and should not artificially separatethe matter of substantive content from that of social behaviour.Below the level of the discipline there remains the important category of subdisciplinaryspecialisms with their own more closely-knit but constantly shifting communities. Bucher &Strauss (1961) characterise them as loose amalgamations pursuing different objectives indifferent manners and more or tess delicately held together under a common name at aparticular period in history. It is at least arguable (Becher 1990) that an understanding ofthe characteristics of such subspecialisms is essential to an appreciation not only of theirparent disciplines but atso of interdisciplinarity and of the phenomena of intellectual changeand development.However the discussion which follows will be limited to the second and third levels ofanalysisnamely the four broad intellectual groupings mentioned earlier and the separatedisciplines and professional fields of which they are comprised. Before embarking on thedetail of the argaament it may be useful to make a further preliminary comment on theconcept of culture and the notion of a discipline.In its technical sense culture is to the anthropologist a fundamental concept. Itembodies the traditional and social heritage of a people; their customs and practices; theirtransmitted knowledge beliefs law and morals; their linguistic and symbolic forms ofcommunication and the meanings they share. As Bailey (1992) puts it a culture is a setof mental constructs that may serve to guide or justify conduct between people and to tellthem how to use things it may also tell them how to get from what is to what should be;that is in one of its aspects culture is a plan for coping with the world.Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Significance of Disciplinary Differences 153This rich notion has necessarily to be weakened into metaphor when the subject of studyis one part of the way of life of a group of twentieth century academics rather than the totalworld view of a relatively isolated primitive community. However the concept of culture asdeveloped in social anthropology does have considerable relevance to the understanding ofhigher education. As the well-known American anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1976)pointed out to be a Shakespearean scholar absorb oneself in black holes or attempt tomeasure the effect of schooling on economic achievementis not just to take up a technicaltask but to place oneself inside a cultural frame that defines and even determines a very greatpart of ones life. I have argued at some length elsewhere (Becher 1989) that disciplinarygroups can usefully be regarded as academic tribes each with their own set of intellectualvalues and their own patch of cognitive territory. Anthropologists commonly make a distinctionbetween cultural and structural elements the latter including status differences relationshipsand boundariesbut in what follows the term culture will be used in its broader moreeveryday sense to include both culture and structure.Knowledge Fields and Cognitive CommunitiesThe cultural aspects of disciplines and their cognitive aspects are inseparably intertwined.The pattern of relationships is complex and few of the connections are unconditional. Bothindividual and group behaviour can be affected by factors outside the field of knowledgeitself. In certain cases moreover a cultural phenomenon may best be understood in terms ofan arbitrary convention. But in very many instances disciplinary practices can be closelymatched with the relevant characteristics of their associated domains of enquiry. Simply toillustrate the point Table II offers a sketch within the framework of broad disciplinarygroupings of the kind of correlation one might expect to find between the nature ofknowledge domains and the nature of the associated disciplinary cultures.The linkage becomes noticeably close at the level of individual disciplines and closer stillwhen the analysis is in terms of subdisciplinary specialisms. Thus for example the close-knitepistemological structure of high energy physics research is mirrored by the fast-movingcompetitive densely populatedone might say urbanresearch community associated withthat field. Equally the loosely-structured intellectual arenas of modern languages arereflected in the leisurely uncompetitive pace and scattered rural societies of the relatedspecialist groups.However this isomorphism between knowledge fields and knowledge communities isnot the only significant feature of the study of disciplinary cultures. Another importantcharacteristic is their high degree of universality. Disciplinary cultures in virtually all fieldstranscend the institutional boundaries within any given system. In many but not allinstances they also span national boundaries. That this is the case can be seen through theexistence of national and often international subiect associations which embody collectivenorms and exercise an informal control on undergraduate and graduate curricula as well asproviding a shared context for research. It can also be observed in the easy mobility ofacademic staff from one institution to another; the common readership of academic texts(whether books or iournals); the frequent informal communication between individuals indifferent geographical locations; the existence of international conferences; and the incidenceof collaborative enquiry which involves researchers in more than one university (and oftenmore than one country).To say this is not to deny that there may be differences in research traditions profiles ofundergraduate programmes and the like between one national system and another or thatsome fields (such as law and to a somewhat lesser extent history) may have a more parochialDownloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014TABLE II. Knowledge and culture by disciplinary groupingDisciplinary grouping Nature of knowledge Nature of disciplinary culturek/1toPure sciences (e.g. physics):hard-pureHumanities (e.g. history) and pure socialsciences (e.g. anthropology): %oft-pureTechnologies (eg mechanical engineering):hard-appliedApplied social sciences (e.g. education):soft-appliedCumulative; atomistic (crystalline/tree-like); concerned with universalsquantities simplification; resulting indiscovery/explanation.Reiterative; holistic (organic/river-like);concerned with particulars qualitiescomplication; resulting in understanding/interpretation.Purposive; pragmatic (know-how viahard knowledge); concerned with masteryof physical environment; resulting inproducts/techniques.Functional; ulitarian (know-how via softknowledge); concerned with enhancementof [semi-] professional practice;resulting in protocols/procedures.Competitive gregarious; politicallywell-organized; high publication rate;task-oriented.Individualistic pturastic; looselystructured; low publication rate; personoriented.Entrepreneurial cosmopolitan;dominated by professional values; patentssubstitutable for publications; roleoriented.Outward-looking; uncertain in status;dominated by intellectual fashions;publication rates reduced byconsultances; power-oriented.Source: Becher (1987).Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Significance of Disciplinary Differences 155frame of reference than others. Ruscio (1987) has helpfully illustrated the point by using thebiological analogy of a genotype and a phenotype:the genotype represents the fundamental instructions to the organism and itspotential for survival and growth; the phenotype represents the actual manifestationof that potential in a particular physical setting.His research shows that even between different institutions in the same system the phenotypicalvariations can be substantial but that one can nonetheless clearly identify genotypicalcultures endemic to each discipline.In what follows attention will be given to a number of more practical considerationsrelating to research and policy in higher education which it is the main concern of this paperto adumbrate. These will for convenience by divided between the categories of macro mesoand micro enquiries relating respectively to system-wide issues those at the level of theinstitution and those focusing on basic units and individuals.The Macro LevelComparative studies in higher education tend to focus on macro-level contrasts between thestructures of one system and another. Few of them offer the kind of illuminating comparisonbetween particular institutions in different countries which Friedburg & Musselin (1989)provide in their En Qu~te dUniversitd. Even fewer appear to have penetrated down to the levelof individual departments where a cross-national study can tell us interesting things aboutthe differing patterns in the working lives of the inhabitants of academia in different countriesand provide concrete and specific data about the common and contrasting factors whichshape research profiles and graduate and undergraduate curricula. Clark (1993) offers oneexample of such an approach. If anything enquiries of this kind should be made easier by theexistence of a relatively common framework of disciplinary contents and conventions. Muchas in the Annales school of histo~which explores the commonplace of everyday existenceas against the more traditional history of rulers and revolutionaries and of wars betweennationsstudies of this kind would seem to offer an immediacy that many system-widecomparisons lack.As in much comparative research a consideration of disciplinary differences rarelyfigures in nationally-based macro-level enquiries in higher education. There accordinglyremain some important issues to be explored in this arena. For example the relationship ofuniversities with society at large tends to be discussed in global terms: but such discussion isliable to conceal or overlook significant internal distinctions.Even at the level of the four broad knowledge fields identified earlier one can discerncertain characteristic features of that relationship which affect the nature of research suport.Academic enquiry in hard pure fields is liable to be expensive giving rise to an effective lobbyfor fund raising; however that very dependence on outside money lays any such field opento demands for social relevance and hence to what Elzinga (1985) has termed epistemicdrift. Hard applied fields show a more diffused pattern of activity with mainly pragmaticresearch criteria; but there is also a tendency to aim for increased status by favouring themore theoretical less instrumental aspects of the domaina form of academic drift(Neave 1979) which is the counterpart to the epistemic drift already noted in the hard puredomain.When it comes to soft pure enquiry the outside world tends to view much scholarly workas lacking any wider social justification and as neither needing nor deserving any significantfinancial support. In the more empirical social science disciplines external factors may wellDownloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014156 T. Becheraffect the pattern of research activity but the impact of research on practice is seldom verydirect. Within the soft pure domain as a whole the tendency is towards individualised workand subject-based interest groups which form a bridge to outside constituencies are correspondinglyweak. The interplay between society and academia here is limited largely to thecontext of popular and moderately esoteric culture. Finally soft applied activity presents adifferent pattern again. Because of their overlapping membership with the academic communitythe relevant professional practitioners associations often have a strong say indetermining curricula as well as setting the agenda for research. Client groups may also insome cases seek to exert their influence. In general perceived relevance is a strong criterionfor determining funding support in this group of disciplines which is thus particularlyvulnerable to external pressure.Such observations are themselves open to refinement lumping together as they do anumber of distinct disciplinary groups. They nevertheless serve to underline the point thatinteresting contrasts emerge once one explores phenomena below the macro level at which allsuch variations are homogenised. Leaving aside the temptation to chart in close detait theinterrelationship between individual disciplinary groups and their external environment itmay be noted that one interesting dimension of this interrelationship concerns the opportunitiesfor different university departmentsthe organisational embodiment one might say ofacademic disciplinesto engage in sponsored mid-career vocational training.It is noticeable that in almost every institution the pace in developing such training is setby the departments of engineering and business studies: an unsurprising phenomenon giventhe ready saleability of their wares and the extent of the existing contracts with theirpractitioner clients. The apparent reluctance of chemists to become involved calls for furtherinvestigation in that they have traditionally quite strong links with industry. It is perhapspredictable that physicists are reticent though biological scientists are less so; and as onemight expect many professional schools besides engineering contribute either directly orindirectly (through the individual moonlighting activities of their members) to the post-experiencetraining of the relevant practitioner groups. More unexpected examples of whatmight be called contract education include sponsored courses by philosophers on professionalethics training in the management of historical sites by a department of economic history andcultural briefing courses provided by a department of oriental languages for businessmenplanning to visit Japan (Becher 1992).Such non-traditional forms of teaching provision incidentally seem likely to havesignificant financial and curricular implications for the departments concernedfirst inearning them surplus funds to enhance their research potential and second in bringing intothe undergraduate programme up-to-date illustrations of contemporary professional practices.There is also some evidence to suggest an improvement in teaching techniques and staffmotivation.A comparable contrast can be observed between different disciplinary groups in relationto contract research where departments in hard applied and soft applied areas are able toearn substantial funds by undertaking sponsored work while faculty in hard pure areas tendto see this as low-status activity and others against in soft pure domains seldom have anyopportunity to contemplate the choice. The consequences in terms of academic working livesare evident enough. Those who involve themselves in such activities necessarily have closercontacts with the outside world which they are able to exploit in a variety of ways includingoffering their graduates a wider range of job opportunities and using additional earnings toimprove departmental resources.Two widely researched themes at the macro level are access studies and investigations ofthe labour market. Here again an awareness of disciplinary distinctions is arguably of keyDownloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Significance of Disciplinary Differences 157importance. Gender contrasts in higher education have been the subject of considerablerecent attention. Yet leaving aside the useful contributions of Thomas (1990) and Evans(1988) there have been few attempts to examine the relationship between gender preferencesand the characteristic cultures of disciplines. The large-scale rejection by women of scientificand technological subjects and their strong preference for the humanities is a source ofconcern in terms of equal opportunities. The issue might usefully be illuminated by closeexamination of the underlying cultural factors.More generally in systems such as that of the UK where entry to higher education is tosome degree competitive the admission requirements differ markedly not only betweeninstitutions (with Oxford and Cambridge at the top of the pecking order and some of thenewly-designated universities towards the bottom) but also between individual subject fields.Places in business studies history and English literature departments for example areheavily oversubscribed; those in mathematics physics and engineering tend to have relativelyfewer takers. This inevitably means that access to the latter group of subjects is much easierthan to the former in which even quite well-qualified candidates may not get a place. Itwould be interesting to explore whether the pattern of demand is at all similar in otherEuropean countries.When it comes to graduate employment the positionagain in the UKis neatlyreversed. Physical scientists and mathematicians have relatively little difficulty even inrecession in finding jobs; graduates in the humanities and even in business studies (whichdoes not seem a greatly attractive degree to employers) may spend some time seeking asuitable post. And of course vocational programmes such as medicine and law offer a strongguarantee of lifelong professional career. Boys et aL (1988) offer one particularly interestingstudy of how disciplines relate to labour market opportunities and how their epistemologicaland cultural characteristics affect the development of skills which are transferable into thework place. Research of this kind demonstrates in an effective way the benefits even inmacro-level enquiries of attending to disciplinary differences.The Meso LevelSimilar benefits can be seen at the meso level especially in studies of institutional managementand in the development of evaluation procedures. There is a tendencywhich a properattention to disciplinary cultures can help to checkfor administrators to lay down uniformspecifications to be observed across the whole range of departments even where these areclearly inappropriate. For example areas for institutional growth and expansion may beidentified by reference to high research earnings even though the opportunities for these arenot evenly distributed. Such a criterion would discriminate strongly in favour of expensiveareas such as physics and equally strongly against low cost areas such as philosophy.Again staff promotions criteria based on numbers of published titles would have a clearbias in favour of chemistry (where it is common to publish several short papers in a year) andagainst history (where the norm is to produce substantial books rather than journal articles).Professional subjects too tend to have a low publication profile because the academic staffconcerned are expected to maintain their credibility through involvement in consultancies ormore directly in practice at the expense of publishable research. Virtually every performanceindicator for both research and teaching can in fact be shown to operate unevenly across therange of disciplines leaving peer review as the only reasonably fair mechanism for performanceevaluation.The outcomes of managerial policies to enhance the efficiency of teaching and learningDownloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014158 T. Becherhave in the past often proved disappointing. Faculty development programmes for instancetend to lose credibility with their potential clients because of their discipline-independentapproach. It is of course useful to put across to all academic teachers the basic principles ofgood lecturingthough even here there is a world of difference between the techniquesneeded in say an anatomy course and one in literature. But beyond the limited area ofcommon ground there is a wide variety of different needs: seminar teaching in the humanitiesoverseeing field-work exercises in geography or biology planning laboratory-basedteaching in physics and chemistry organising and supervising work placements in engineeringdeveloping project-based activities in architecture and so on. It is difficult to see howfaculty development can go beyond the most elementary level without a clear recognition thatdisciplinary cultures impose their own particular pattern in teaching as in other activities. Yetneither practice nor the evaluation of practice commonly takes account of such variations.A similar problem arises with study skills programmes for students. Many of these tooare general in nature and seen as of limited use by participants. As Bazerman (1981) pointsout the whole mode of argumentation differs radically between such fields as biochemistryEnglish literature and the sociology of science. To begin fully to understand the subject it isnecessary to immerse oneself in the structure of its discourse: and that cannot be achieved bya few broadly-based sessions on how to write an essay. Other techniques commonly addressedin such courses include the development of rapid reading methods and the acquisitionof bibliographical skills. Yet the formerrapid readingis of notably less use tostudents of mathematics and philosophy than it is to prospective historians and sociologistswhile the latterbibliographical skillsare of much greater demand in the humanities thanthey are in professional subjects such as accountancy or nursing.Curriculum design in its turn encounters quite distinctive needs across the range ofsubiects. There are certain principles in common butto take one instancean objectivesbasedapproach is much more easy to implement in a professional subject with clear-cutrequirements than in a course which depends on an integrative understanding of complexinterrelationships. Similarly courses with a high factual contentas in certain areas oflawmay appropriately be assessed by multiple choice tests; but the latter are entirelyunsuitable for subjects such as sociology where the emphasis tends to be on the need todecide between competing theories and to justify that decision. Again pure and appliedresearch on the topic tends to overlook these distinctions.The Micro LevelAt the micro level of activities within individual departments there are also noticeablecontrasts in the modes of both research and teaching. To take only a few examples researchin chemistry tends to involve teams comprising tenured staff post-doctoral staff doctoralstudents and technicians and is of course heavily dependent on laboratory apparatus andaccommodation. At the other end of the spectrum research in mathematics typically involvesa solitary researcher armed with no more than a desk paper and pencil and perhapsblackboard and chalk. Effective research training should necessarily take such differences intoaccount. So should general studies of the nature of academic enquiry.Similarlyas has already been implied in relation to study skillspatterns of studentactivity span a continuum from the heavily didactic in subjects such as law engineering andmedicine to the determinedly participative in modem languages and the creative arts.Students in the first group of subjects are liable to have full lecture timetables and to worklong hours but with relatively few individual assignments; in the second group the pace ismore leisurely with relatively less timetabled time and more personal study commitments.Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Significance of Disciplinary Differences 159Such differences can be related partly to the social aspects of the discipline concerned (wevealways done it that way) and partly to their epistemological characteristics (thats how it hasto beyou cant understand it otherwise).Graduate education in its turn clearly reflects such differentiation. Recent research(Clark 1993) has shown thatat least the USA and the UK though the pattern is somewhatdifferent in some European countrieswhile doctoral students share many problems thereare also a number of subject-specific features of their programmes. Thesis topics in scienceare typically specified by the supervisor; in the humanities there is a strong insistence onstudents making their own choice. When things go wrong in the sciences it may be becauseof difficulties with apparatus or because a particular technique does not work; in thehumanities the most common failings are lack of adequate definition of the research issue oran excess of data to analyse. Loneliness and a lack of adequate supervisory support are typicalconcerns of humanities graduate students; being used as a general dogsbody is the mainsource of dissatisfaction for their counterparts in the sciences.Another current area of interest at the micro levelan important component in the studyof institutional managementis the role of the head of department. In the analysis of thisissue too it would seem impossible to overlook or brush aside disciplinary differences. Thereis a very significant contrast in both range and scale between the responsibilities on the oneside of the head of a philosophy department of eight academics and a secretary and on theother of the head of a chemistry department of 30 or more academics and probably acomparable number of technical and secretarial staff who is accountable for the equipmentprovision and running of a number of teaching and research laboratories. It is perhapsunderstandable that in the UK at least (Taylor 1992) the choice ofvice-chancellor or rectoris increasingly made from science or technology rather than the humanities or socialsciences on the grounds of relevant previous managerial experience.If macro and meso research display a tendency to overlook the significance of disciplinarycultures enquiries at the micro level would appear less prone to this limitation. Thereason is simple enough; many such enquiries are focused on an individual department andthose who conduct them do not overtly make the assumption that there is no significantcultural or operational difference between one department and another. However thespecificity of their findings is not always acknowledged and this encourages other researchersto draw wider conclusions from their work than the evidence should allow. An effective wayof avoiding this difficulty is to extend the research base to cover more than one discipline sothat useful contrasts can be drawn. Ference Marton and his associates provide an excellentmodel for this approach investigating student learning in settings as different as economicsand engineering (See for example Marton et al. 1984).The Case of Discipline-focused ResearchThe arguments so far have attempted to show that an awareness of disciplinary cultures ishelpful and even in some cases essential to the conduct of research and the development ofpolicy in higher education. That is so at the macro level which could be said to includecomparative studies as well as studies for instance focusing on the relationships betweenuniversities and their external environment on access problems and on the labour market forgraduates. At the meso level differences between disciplines it was suggested are relevant toenquiries into and the development of such themes as institutional management staffevaluation faculty development study skills programmes and curriculum design. At themicro level attention was drawn to variations in departmental practice in research andDownloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014160 T. Becherteaching including graduate education and to the contrasting roles of heads of departmentsin different subject areas.Given what could be claimed to be the pervasiveness of this theme of disciplinarycultures across the whole range of enquiry into higher education it is tempting to make aneven bolder assertion. If more researches were to take a disciplinary perspective fully intoaccount one could see the scope for better cross-fertilisation and a better sense of unitybetween them. What could be discovered say about the physics community as an internationalphenomenon at the macro level might well have direct relevance to micro levelresearch in a single physics department. Similarly micro level enquiries into patterns ofteaching and learning in say modern languages political science and social work could havea direct bearing on the development of performance indicators or of study skills programmesat the meso level of the institution. Seen in this light disciplinary-focused research couldprovide an element of mutual coherence that is currently lacking in much of the work in thisfield.It may be relevant finally to address the puzzling question which lies behind theapparent neglect so far among higher education researchers of the characteristic features ofindividual disciplines: features which distinguish them one from another andit could beclaimedplay a significant part in the business of understanding what higher education isabout. Let me put forward three rival hypotheses to explain the phenomenon.The first is that because higher education is a field of study but not a discipline in itsown right researchers in that field are not naturally conscious of disciplinary issues. Moreoverlike expatriates most of them have abandoned their original context and cut themselvesoff from its characteristic way of life. It might be said that they lack a culture and thereforefail to discern one in others. A second hypothesis is that the kind of ethnographic detailimplicit in studies of disciplines involves hard painstaking work and that many people findit easier to avoid this by keeping to a level of comfortable generality. The third is to do withthe basic human need to rationalise and make orderly what look like messy phenomena.Allison (1971) caught the latter tendency very well in his masterly study of the Cubanmissile crisis: the common approach as he showed was to ascribe hilly rational behaviourto all the key figures involved even though alternative explanations based on bureaucraticaction and micropolitical behaviour could be seen to be more appropriate. In the case ofhigher education it is awkward to acknowledge that academic behaviour fails to conform toneat and consistent patternsso those concerned may subconsciously tidy it up to representa respectably neat field of study.I offer no prediction about which if any of these hypotheses is correct or about whethera quite different one would offer the best explanation. If other findings about highereducation are anything to go by the truth will be more complex than any straightforwardcorrelation would allow. In any case the question seems a fruitful one for investigation byhigher education researchers currently looking for a topic. For others already actively engagedin research activity it is to be hoped that the thesis advanced in this paper may at leastsuggest a possible added dimension to their work.Correspondence: Professor Tony Becher Institute of Continuing and Professional EducationEducation Development Building University of Sussex Falmer Brighton BN1 9RG UnitedKingdom.Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Significance of Disciplinary Differences 161REFERENCESALLISON G.T. (1971) Essence of Decision (New York Little Brown).BAILEY F.G. (1977) Morality and Expediency (Oxford Blackwell).BAILEY F.G. (1992) Anthropology in: B. R. CLARK & G. N~w (Eds) The Encylopedia of Higher Education(Oxford Pergamon Press).BAZERMAN C. (1981) What written knowledge does Philosophy of the Social Sciences 2 pp. 361-387.BECHER T. (1987) The disciplinary shaping of the profession in: B. R. CLARK (Ed.) The Academic Profession(Berkeley CA University of California Press).BECHER T. (1989) Academic Tribes and Territories (Milton Ke~aes Open University Press).BECHER T. (1990) The counter-culture of specialisafion European Journal of Education 25 pp. 333-346.BECHER T. (1992) Meeting the Contract Project Report European Centre for Strategic Management inUniversities Brussels.BIGLAN A. (1973) The characteristics of subject matter in different scientific areas ffournal of AppliedPsychology 57 pp. 195-203.BOYS C. BREV~~ANJ . HENKEL M. KIRKLdMNDJ . KOGAN M. & YOULL P. (1988) Higher Education and thePreparation for Work (London Jessica Kingsley).BUCHER R. & STRAUSS A. (1961) Professions in process American Journal of Sociology 66 pp. 325-334.CLARK B. R. (1983) The Higher Education System (Berkeley CA University of California Press).CIARK B. R. (Ed.) (1993) The Research Foundations of Graduate Education (Berkeley CA University ofCalifornia Press).ELZlNGA A. (1985) Research bureaucracy and the drift of epistemic criteria in: B. WrFTROCK & A. ELZINGA(Eds) The University Research System (Stockholm Almqvist & Wieksell).EVANS C. (1988) Language People (Milton Keynes Open University Press).FRIEDBERG E. & MUSSELIN C. (1989) En Qu~te dUniversitd (Paris Editions lHarmattan).GEERTZ C. (1976) Toward an ethnography of the disciplines mimeo Princeton Institute of Advanced Study.HARMAN K. (1990) Culture and conflict in academic organisation Journal of Educational Administration27(3) pp. 30-54.KOLB D.A. (1981) Learning styles and disciplinary differences in: A. CHICKErUNG (Ed.) 77~e Modern AmericanCollege (San Francisco CA Jossey Bass).MARTON F. HOru~SELL D. ENT~aSLg N.J. (Eds) (1984) The Experience of Learning (FAinburgh ScottishAcademic Press).NEAVE G. (1979) Academic drift: some views from Europe Studies in Higher Education 4 pp. 143-159.PRICE D.J. (1970) Citation measures of hard science soft science technology and non-science in: C. E.NELSON & D. K. POLLOCK (rEds) Communication among Scientists and Engineers (Lexington MA Heath).RuscIo K.P. (1987) Many sectors many professions in: B. R. CLARK (Ed.) The Academic Profession(Berkeley CA University of California Press).TAfl~OR W. (1992) The role of the institutional head in: B. R. CLARK & G. NEAVE (Eds) The Encyclopediaof Higher Education (Oxford Pergamon Press).THOMAS K. (1990) Gender and Subject in Higher Education (Milton Keynes Open University Press).TouL~iI~ S. (1972) Human Understanding Vol. 1 (Oxford Clarendon Press).WHrrELY R. (1984) The Intellectual and Social Organisation of the Sciences (Oxford Clarendon Press).Downloaded by [Arizona State University] at 10:50 15 October 2014Becher (1994)PAGES 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161HistoricalWhen Clark (1983) Becher (1989) 1980-1988 1988-1993 Baily (1977) Ruscio (1987) Friedburg & Musselin (1989) Clark (1993)Where Academic publications focused on disciplines research and policy in higher education comparative studies in higher educationdepartments of engineering and business studiesIntelletualPurpose To determine something about disciplinary differences.RationaleRelationalIndependentDependentKey Concepts disciplinary differences disciplinary disciplines knowledge communities knowledge fields cognitive communities disciplinarydifferences disciplinary groups disciplinary cultures disciplinary cultures disciplinesData Study of research norms and practices in 12 contrasting disciplinary fields Ruscio (1987) comparative studies in higher educationcomparative researchFinding(s) His research shows that even between different institutions in the same system the phenotypicalvariations can besubstantial but that one can nonetheless clearly identify genotypicalcultures endemic to each discipline (Becher 1994).99.MARKETING TO THE BABY BOOM GENERATION.The nations 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are the wealthiest group of Americans. They have an estimated $1 trillion in annual disposable incomeand three-quarters of the nations financial assets but only 10% of advertising dollars are directed specifically at the 50-plus market. Marketers aim for the sweetspot the demographic group between 18 and 49. But as the aging boomers hurdle toward retirement some marketers are realizing the commercial potential of such ahuge affluent market.The baby boom generation has transformed every age and stage it has passed through. As children boomers created a market for disposable diapers and strained peas injars. As teenagers they introduced the nation to long hair rock-and-roll music tie-dyed clothes and skateboards. As the generation became parents they demandedorganic baby food quality health care and SUVs. Today market researchers are looking at the marketing opportunities for the wealthiest generation steadily movinginto retirement. Almost 8 million Americans turned 60 in 2006. By 2010 one in three adults will be 50 or older. This huge demographic group will not go gently intoretirement like earlier generations have done.The conventional wisdom among marketers is that you have to get consumers to commit to your brand early in life and once they commit they will be loyal to your brandforever. However a study conducted by AARP showed that consumers aged 45 and older switch brands just as readily as younger generations. This has tremendousimplications for savvy marketers.Half of all boomers live in households without kids. Companies like General Mills changed the packaging for its Pillsbury dinner rolls and Green Giant vegetables toresealable freezer bags that allow for several smaller portions instead of family-sized portions.Boomer retirees will leave their primary career near age 62 to 65 but most will not completely leave the job market. Many will pursue volunteer opportunities take alow-stress part-time job or start a completely new business. A study by Merrill Lynch found that 76% of boomers said they will probably hold down a job in retirementand a majority of that group said they expect to shift back and forth between leisure and work.Savvy entrepreneurs can capitalize on the unique qualities of this generation. Take Re/Max agent Kathy Sperl-Bell. Sperl-Bell is a Senior Real Estate Specialist(SRES) 1 of more than 14000 real estate agents nationwide with an SRES designation up from 5000 in 2002. Agents go through a two-day training program whichincludes analysis of the different generational needs and attitudes of those 55 and older as well as the types of housing options available for that market. SRESagents specialize in dealing with this growing market segment that have specific needstaxes elder care estate sales health care availabilityand also a largeamount of disposable income to meet them.This generation also has the income and leisure time to become doting grandparents. Disney has targeted this trend with TV commercials showing multiple generationsenjoying theme-park attractions. Retiring boomers dont want to look like retirees. From Botox to cosmetic peels to plastic surgery the race is on to profit from thegenerations desire to be forever young. Every cosmetic company from Avon to LOreal is rolling out wrinkle creams and serums to halt sagging skin and wrinkles.But marketers must tailor their marketing carefully. According to one researcher Anything marketing to silver hair is bad marketing. Dont talk to theirchronological age; talk to their self-image. That 50-year-old boomer probably still feels like a 30-something.Case Questions:1. Based on this upcoming large spending group what other types of products/services might be popular and attention getting to this market? Why would theseproducts/services be a good fit to this group?2. Is there a segment of the baby boomers who are more conservative and not interested in buying products that speak to a younger living lifestyle as portrayed inthis case study? If so how would you define this segment and what potential would there be to sell products and services to them?3. For those baby boomers who would like to become entrepreneurs what might be types of businesses that they would be good fits to operate? What would be theirmotivation to own and operate their own business?Your response to all the above questions (In total) MUST be minimum 400 words and you will need to use the concepts you have learned in this class to strengthen yourresponses to the case questions. You are allowed to use sources other than your textbook as long as you cite your sources in your responses and provide a referencepage in the file you upload.

 

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