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Paradoxes, contradictions, and deep feelings of ambivalence, or, academia still appeals

In: Research Handbook on Public Sociology

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  • Eeva Berglund

Abstract

This essay compares experiences of a reluctant exit from academia at the start of the millennium with recent, contrasting, experiences. The story of academic work-life misery continues. At the same time there is great ambivalence about its potential to help society learn about ever more frightening problems. I show that academia already engages in significant, perhaps existentially crucial ways, with public concerns of all kinds, and indeed that science owes a great debt to protest movements. The text discusses these issues in as they appear in the discourse of the Anthropocene. This is a prominent part of teaching and research in a sustainability focussed Masters programme at a Finnish university. The institution has a very corporate style, bringing with it many of the exact problems that critical commentators have identified with the contemporary university, yet it offers openings for developing rather than undermining the learning that public life now needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Eeva Berglund, 2023. "Paradoxes, contradictions, and deep feelings of ambivalence, or, academia still appeals," Chapters, in: Lavinia Bifulco & Vando Borghi (ed.), Research Handbook on Public Sociology, chapter 24, pages 336-349, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20272_24
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