The University and the Global Knowledge Society - (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology) by David John Frank & John W Meyer (Paperback)

About the Book

"This book examines the core changes in the nature, status, and significance of the university over the last century. Having grown in numbers, reach, and scope, the university has seen sweeping expansion and has become central in a contemporary global society built on liberal and neoliberal institutions. David Frank and John Meyer begin by describing the university's expansion, focusing especially on global diffusion. They then examine the transformation of university knowledge, illustrating the ways in which standardized and scientific knowledge now reaches into more sectors of everyday life. This leads them to discuss the porous interface between the university and society. They suggest that there are now essentially no social problems that the university should not responsibly address. The result is a society dependent on credentials and cultural content provided by the university, and in the final chapter of the book, the authors reflect on what it means to exist in this "knowledge society""--

Book Synopsis

How the university went global and became the heart of the information age

The university is experiencing an unprecedented level of success today, as more universities in more countries educate more students in more fields. At the same time, the university has become central to a knowledge society based on the belief that everyone can, through higher education, access universal truths and apply them in the name of progress. This book traces the university's rise over the past hundred years to become the cultural linchpin of contemporary society, revealing how the so-called ivory tower has become profoundly interlinked with almost every area of human endeavor.

David John Frank and John Meyer describe how, as the university expanded, student and faculty bodies became larger, more diverse, and more empowered to turn knowledge into action. Their contributions to society underscored the public importance of scholarship, and as the cultural authority of universities grew they increased the scope of their research and teaching interests. As a result, the university has become the bedrock of today's information-based society, an institution that is now implicated in the solution to every conceivable problem.

But, as Frank and Meyer also show, the conditions that helped spur the university's recent ascendance are not immutable: eruptions of nationalism, authoritarianism, and illiberalism undercut the university's universalistic and rationalistic premises, and may threaten the centrality of the university itself.

Review Quotes

"Frank and Meyer provide a unique and thorough assessment of the university as an institution and how it has persisted through the centuries, largely in the same form and despite numerous external challenges. . . . This book makes a useful contribution to the institutional analysis of universities and will certainly find a prominent place on reading lists for students and scholars of organizational sociology, higher education, and globalization."---Rebecca Natow, Teachers College Record

About the Author

David John Frank is professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and the coauthor of Reconstructing the University. John W. Meyer is professor emeritus of sociology at Stanford University and the coauthor of Hyper-Organization and Science in the Modern World Polity.