The Iron Cage University

Abstract

This chapter questions the contribution of bureaucratic organization to the core missions of the modern university. Although perfectly fit for the execution of peripheral functions, teaching and research do not thrive in such an environment. This accommodation failure has much to do with the many ways the marketplace has crept into our thinking about the function of education and the value of new discovery. Relevant external forces only exacerbate these tendencies. The prospects for emancipation include a resurgence of individuality, perhaps carried by the possibilities of technology which reverses its current capability to standardize and commodify. A more fundamental rethinking of post-secondary education may be needed.

Citation

Fogarty, T.J. (2020), "The Iron Cage University", Sengupta, E. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) Teaching and Learning Practices for Academic Freedom (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120200000034009