Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens
American private foundations played a special role in the internationalization of European social science research during the inter-war years. Especially the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) brought forward its reform-oriented vision of the social sciences by awarding large grants to centers of excellen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Lärdomshistoriska samfundet
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Lychnos |
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| Online Access: | https://tidskriftenlychnos.se/article/view/21311 |
| _version_ | 1797791056009363456 |
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| author | Niskanen Kirsti |
| author_facet | Niskanen Kirsti |
| author_sort | Niskanen Kirsti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
American private foundations played a special role in the internationalization of European social science research during the inter-war years. Especially the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) brought forward its reform-oriented vision of the social sciences by awarding large grants to centers of excellence in Europe, among them Socialforskningsinstitutet in Stockholm. This article studies a specific, in-academic aspect of this form of internationalization, namely the foundation’s evaluative culture and how the funding helped to create opportunities for academic advancement. Excellence and impersonality were the key features in the foundation’s cultural script in the selection of fellows. The assessment criteria were pragmatic: researchers would have a good position to return to after the scholarship stays, be able to present recommendations from leading senior researchers and commit to returning to their home departments. The evaluation process had some resemblance of peer review, although evaluations were made internally, without collegial assessment by external experts. By long-standing and close contacts with trusted scholars, the aim was to create a basis for informed assessments of the quality of the various research environments and the researchers involved in them. The funding helped to open and widen the contact surfaces with international research and to the creation of transnational research communities where stays abroad, international contacts and networks served as an academic qual- ification. The funding thus contributed to the homogenization of social science research. The foundation’s outwardly friendly but practically dismissive attitude to women as scholars, based on a traditional view of the relationship between women and men, strengthened the already skewed gender structures in academia.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:14:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3f08bff926540cca036f3579328be63 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0076-1648 2004-4852 |
| language | Danish |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:14:17Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Lärdomshistoriska samfundet |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Lychnos |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3f08bff926540cca036f3579328be632023-06-30T19:33:54ZdanLärdomshistoriska samfundetLychnos0076-16482004-48522019-01-01Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellensNiskanen Kirsti0Stockholms universitet American private foundations played a special role in the internationalization of European social science research during the inter-war years. Especially the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) brought forward its reform-oriented vision of the social sciences by awarding large grants to centers of excellence in Europe, among them Socialforskningsinstitutet in Stockholm. This article studies a specific, in-academic aspect of this form of internationalization, namely the foundation’s evaluative culture and how the funding helped to create opportunities for academic advancement. Excellence and impersonality were the key features in the foundation’s cultural script in the selection of fellows. The assessment criteria were pragmatic: researchers would have a good position to return to after the scholarship stays, be able to present recommendations from leading senior researchers and commit to returning to their home departments. The evaluation process had some resemblance of peer review, although evaluations were made internally, without collegial assessment by external experts. By long-standing and close contacts with trusted scholars, the aim was to create a basis for informed assessments of the quality of the various research environments and the researchers involved in them. The funding helped to open and widen the contact surfaces with international research and to the creation of transnational research communities where stays abroad, international contacts and networks served as an academic qual- ification. The funding thus contributed to the homogenization of social science research. The foundation’s outwardly friendly but practically dismissive attitude to women as scholars, based on a traditional view of the relationship between women and men, strengthened the already skewed gender structures in academia. https://tidskriftenlychnos.se/article/view/21311Social sciencesRockefeller Foundationinternationalizationacademic excellencetransnationalismgender |
| spellingShingle | Niskanen Kirsti Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens Lychnos Social sciences Rockefeller Foundation internationalization academic excellence transnationalism gender |
| title | Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| title_full | Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| title_fullStr | Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| title_short | Möjlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| title_sort | mojlighetsstrukturer och excellens |
| topic | Social sciences Rockefeller Foundation internationalization academic excellence transnationalism gender |
| url | https://tidskriftenlychnos.se/article/view/21311 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT niskanenkirsti mojlighetsstrukturerochexcellens |