A hat parade through the history of science: Doctoral educations in the history of the Swedish system of higher education
This project explores the diffusion of a key university institution, the doctorate, and how this has affected the formation of higher education in Sweden. New doctoral degrees have impacted activities within the institutions for professional training that acquired them, and new activities eventually have had repercussions on the doctorate and the old universities. This primary theme serves as a prism through which more general issues and trends are reflected, as the transforming expansion of the system of higher education. I will elaborate an interpretative framework that fuses five perspectives: a systems perspective on higher education; neo-institutionalist perspectives on elements that make up the system; a sociology of professions perspective on actors; marginalist perspectives on the boundary work of forming knowledge domains; a history of concepts perspective on verbal contestations. Via these perspectives, I will analyze a mass of archival and other sources, with the aim of presenting a major monograph that gives a novel and synthesizing account of higher education in Sweden. By combining science studies and the history of education, I will give a corrective to the largely university-centered historiography of research and education. The project will also provide new knowledge on issues of academic, professional and political interest, and thus contribute to reflective discussions about a sector perceived to be of profound importance to our modern knowledge society.
Final report
The goal of my RJ Sabbatical project was to complete a synthesizing study of the history of the Swedish higher education system and to present my findings in a monograph. The research for this was conducted in 2022, when I in the spring was a visiting scholar in Oslo, affiliated with the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), and the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), at the University of Oslo, the largest Nordic environment for science and technology studies.
The result of this research is the work ”A Hat Parade through the History of Science: Doctoral Educations in the Development of the Swedish Higher Education System”, published by Makadam publishing house in two volumes. The book is available Open Access via the website of Kriterium, after having undergone a quality certification process through peer review. The focus of my work is outlined in the initial project description above; Kriterium provides a short summary, and the book itself a more detailed one.
Here it can suffice to say that the basic questions of the study are simple: Which institutions wanted a doctorate, and when? How did they argue for this, and why did they pursue a “doctoral hat”, a pursuit that was likely to be time- and resource-intensive? But even if the questions are simple, the object of study is wide-ranging and elusive. To grasp it, I employed an interpretive framework that brings together five approaches: a systems perspective on higher education; institutionalist perspectives on the parts and components of the system; a sociology of professions perspective on the key actors involved; marginalist perspectives on boundaries and the formation of knowledge domains; a history of language usage perspective on actors’ verbal resources when arguing for resources to their institutions. The table of contents, with years of new doctorates and other incidents added in parentheses, offers an indication of the outcomes of the meeting between these perspectives and an extensive primary material.
1 Introduction
2 The Academics (PhD 1870)
3 The Surgeons (defense 1874, conferment 1906)
4 The Engineers (1927)
5 The Veterinarians (1935)
6 The Agronomists (1942)
7 The Economists (1946)
8 The Dentists (1950)
9 The Foresters (1950)
10 The Pharmacists (1954)
11 The Reforms (doctoral education 1969, -98; higher education statutes 1956, -64, -77, -93)
12 The Artists (2009)
13 Conclusions
My work focused on elucidating the perspectives and themes that connect the case studies into a cohesive whole, on the one hand in the Introduction and Conclusions, on the other in the individual chapters in between. The task was demanding not only due to the volume of material but also because of my effort to live up to the claims inherent in the ambition to grasp an entire system comprising so many parts. The main deviation from my original plans was dedicating a chapter of its own to the history of the incorporation of institutions for fine arts education into the university system and the introduction of a separate artistic doctoral degree. I did this partly because this process has been researched to such a small degree, and partly because this meeting between educational traditions with different orientations is such a fascinating example of the complexity of the contemporary higher education system.
I believe significance of my work lies not only in this little-known history but also in its thorough mapping of other educational institutions, which should prove useful for further research. However, its primary contribution is my systems perspective, which, by embracing institutions for professional and practical training, challenges the often overly university-centric historiography of higher education. I have presented my work at seminars when I was in Oslo, but also elsewhere and at various conferences, when I usually have focused on some specific aspect of it.
Another outcome of my work is the book ”Business and Research: The Academicization of Education in Business and Economics Reflected in the Trajectory of the Stockholm School of Economics through the First Half of the 20th Century”, published by Makadam publishing house in 2023. It is not available Open Access as it lies outside the project itself, but is closely linked to it nevertheless. The background to this book is that my fascination with the history behind the introduction of an economics doctorate, combined with my struggle when trying to grasp this process, made the manuscript for this chapter swell to the brim. After a whirlwind seminar at the Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, the solution was to give the text an introduction and a conclusion in order to be able to publish it as a small book before I cut the text down to reasonable proportions for the big book. I have also presented this result in various settings, as in a session of my own during the 2023 annual conference of The Swedish Academy of Business and Management (Swe FEKIS).
In terms of collaborations, I have further developed my stimulating connections in Oslo. As indicated above, I have collaborated with actors who are part of the academic domain, but clearly outside the historian’s home field. For example, I have lectured on the organization and governance of the university in historical perspective in university pedagogy courses and management training at the University of Gothenburg. This year, 2024, I have also done similar work at other institutions of higher education, such as Jönköping University and the University of Borås, as well as at a meeting for a network for faculty office managers. It has been exciting to see the amazement and curiosity that historical perspectives can spark.
The result of this research is the work ”A Hat Parade through the History of Science: Doctoral Educations in the Development of the Swedish Higher Education System”, published by Makadam publishing house in two volumes. The book is available Open Access via the website of Kriterium, after having undergone a quality certification process through peer review. The focus of my work is outlined in the initial project description above; Kriterium provides a short summary, and the book itself a more detailed one.
Here it can suffice to say that the basic questions of the study are simple: Which institutions wanted a doctorate, and when? How did they argue for this, and why did they pursue a “doctoral hat”, a pursuit that was likely to be time- and resource-intensive? But even if the questions are simple, the object of study is wide-ranging and elusive. To grasp it, I employed an interpretive framework that brings together five approaches: a systems perspective on higher education; institutionalist perspectives on the parts and components of the system; a sociology of professions perspective on the key actors involved; marginalist perspectives on boundaries and the formation of knowledge domains; a history of language usage perspective on actors’ verbal resources when arguing for resources to their institutions. The table of contents, with years of new doctorates and other incidents added in parentheses, offers an indication of the outcomes of the meeting between these perspectives and an extensive primary material.
1 Introduction
2 The Academics (PhD 1870)
3 The Surgeons (defense 1874, conferment 1906)
4 The Engineers (1927)
5 The Veterinarians (1935)
6 The Agronomists (1942)
7 The Economists (1946)
8 The Dentists (1950)
9 The Foresters (1950)
10 The Pharmacists (1954)
11 The Reforms (doctoral education 1969, -98; higher education statutes 1956, -64, -77, -93)
12 The Artists (2009)
13 Conclusions
My work focused on elucidating the perspectives and themes that connect the case studies into a cohesive whole, on the one hand in the Introduction and Conclusions, on the other in the individual chapters in between. The task was demanding not only due to the volume of material but also because of my effort to live up to the claims inherent in the ambition to grasp an entire system comprising so many parts. The main deviation from my original plans was dedicating a chapter of its own to the history of the incorporation of institutions for fine arts education into the university system and the introduction of a separate artistic doctoral degree. I did this partly because this process has been researched to such a small degree, and partly because this meeting between educational traditions with different orientations is such a fascinating example of the complexity of the contemporary higher education system.
I believe significance of my work lies not only in this little-known history but also in its thorough mapping of other educational institutions, which should prove useful for further research. However, its primary contribution is my systems perspective, which, by embracing institutions for professional and practical training, challenges the often overly university-centric historiography of higher education. I have presented my work at seminars when I was in Oslo, but also elsewhere and at various conferences, when I usually have focused on some specific aspect of it.
Another outcome of my work is the book ”Business and Research: The Academicization of Education in Business and Economics Reflected in the Trajectory of the Stockholm School of Economics through the First Half of the 20th Century”, published by Makadam publishing house in 2023. It is not available Open Access as it lies outside the project itself, but is closely linked to it nevertheless. The background to this book is that my fascination with the history behind the introduction of an economics doctorate, combined with my struggle when trying to grasp this process, made the manuscript for this chapter swell to the brim. After a whirlwind seminar at the Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, the solution was to give the text an introduction and a conclusion in order to be able to publish it as a small book before I cut the text down to reasonable proportions for the big book. I have also presented this result in various settings, as in a session of my own during the 2023 annual conference of The Swedish Academy of Business and Management (Swe FEKIS).
In terms of collaborations, I have further developed my stimulating connections in Oslo. As indicated above, I have collaborated with actors who are part of the academic domain, but clearly outside the historian’s home field. For example, I have lectured on the organization and governance of the university in historical perspective in university pedagogy courses and management training at the University of Gothenburg. This year, 2024, I have also done similar work at other institutions of higher education, such as Jönköping University and the University of Borås, as well as at a meeting for a network for faculty office managers. It has been exciting to see the amazement and curiosity that historical perspectives can spark.