Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences

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dc.contributor.advisorMuller, Johanen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLanga, Patrício Vitorinoen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-02T10:59:42Z
dc.date.available2015-11-02T10:59:42Z
dc.date.issued2010en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 219-252).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractDrawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of field and capital, this thesis examines the disciplinary differences in the social sciences concerning the possession of scientific capital and levels of engagement with academic and non-academic constituencies in three African universities, Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, Makerere University in Uganda and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Contrary to approaches that regard disciplinary fields as homogeneous epistemic and social spaces on the grounds of the principles of the stratification of scientific fields, this study investigates the relationship between the hierarchical position of selected discipline-clusters and the levels of engagement with both internal and external constituencies. The study reveals that levels of possession of scientific capital have a significant effect on the differentiation of the disciplinary fields, both within and across institutions, and on the levels of engagement with (internal) academic and (external) non-academic entities. The analysis shows that scientific capital does not determine the level and forms of engagement with different constituencies. However, the differences across discipline-clusters at institutional level reflect the engagement with academic rather than with non-academic constituencies. In other words, this means that the level of engagement varies more between different disciplines when the engagement is related to academic entities than is the case when non-academic entities are concerned. Therefore, engagement is not a major discriminator amongst institutions. Scientific capital is what gives academics prestige and symbolic capital to the institution. The significance of this is that academics from different discipline-clusters might have different experiences of engagement with different constituencies. I further conclude that the growing importance that the notion of engagement has for the university is, perhaps, too simple if it does not account for the complex and multifaceted characteristics of disciplinary and institutional fields.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationLanga, P. V. (2010). <i>Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14621en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationLanga, Patrício Vitorino. <i>"Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14621en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationLanga, P. 2010. Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Langa, Patrício Vitorino AB - Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of field and capital, this thesis examines the disciplinary differences in the social sciences concerning the possession of scientific capital and levels of engagement with academic and non-academic constituencies in three African universities, Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, Makerere University in Uganda and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Contrary to approaches that regard disciplinary fields as homogeneous epistemic and social spaces on the grounds of the principles of the stratification of scientific fields, this study investigates the relationship between the hierarchical position of selected discipline-clusters and the levels of engagement with both internal and external constituencies. The study reveals that levels of possession of scientific capital have a significant effect on the differentiation of the disciplinary fields, both within and across institutions, and on the levels of engagement with (internal) academic and (external) non-academic entities. The analysis shows that scientific capital does not determine the level and forms of engagement with different constituencies. However, the differences across discipline-clusters at institutional level reflect the engagement with academic rather than with non-academic constituencies. In other words, this means that the level of engagement varies more between different disciplines when the engagement is related to academic entities than is the case when non-academic entities are concerned. Therefore, engagement is not a major discriminator amongst institutions. Scientific capital is what gives academics prestige and symbolic capital to the institution. The significance of this is that academics from different discipline-clusters might have different experiences of engagement with different constituencies. I further conclude that the growing importance that the notion of engagement has for the university is, perhaps, too simple if it does not account for the complex and multifaceted characteristics of disciplinary and institutional fields. DA - 2010 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2010 T1 - Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences TI - Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14621 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14621
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationLanga PV. Disciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciences. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 2010 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14621en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Educationen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherAcademic Networkingen_ZA
dc.subject.otherForms of engagementen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHigher education networksen_ZA
dc.subject.otherscholastic capitalen_ZA
dc.titleDisciplines and engagement in African universities : a study of the distribution of scientific capital and academic networking in social sciencesen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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