Transitivity conditions in infinite graphs

We study transitivity properties of graphs with more than one end. We completely classify the distance-transitive such graphs and, for all $k \geq 3$, the $k$-CS-transitive such graphs.Comment: 20 page

The making of professors: Assessment and recognition in academic recruitment

How do academics become professors? This paper considers the making of ‘professor’ as a subject position through which academics are acknowledged in both organizational contexts and disciplinary fields. The paper examines social processes of recognition in 145 appointment procedures for professorships in the discipline of history at sixteen German universities between 1950 and 1985. Based on an analysis of over 1500 documents from archived appointment records, I investigate how academics are acknowledged as professorial in appointment procedures. The procedures invoked both (1) processes of judgement, in which worth and qualities are attributed to candidates, and (2) processes of legitimation, in which said judgements are stabilized and made acceptable. Using insights from the sociology of valuation and evaluation, this paper sheds light on the fundamental processes of recognition and valorization in academia. The findings contribute to the sociology of scientific knowledge and science and technology studies, which have concentrated on academic recognition in the realm of research, but paid less attention to such recognition in organizational contexts. Complementing this literature, the paper allows for a more general understanding of ‘professor’ as a focal academic subject position

Governance by Numbers: A Panopticon Reversed?

This commentary is concerned with a specific form of power and discipline that is exerted through governance by numbers. Because of its many parallels to classical Foucauldian panopticism, governance based on numbers can be coined ‘numerocratic panopticism.’ Yet, going beyond similarities between classical and numerocratic panopticism, the commentary suggests three features specific to numerocratic panopticism that actually reverse characteristic traits of classical panopticism: In contrast to classical panopticism, numerocratic panopticism is multi-centered, non-spatial and open-purpose. Research on governance by numbers can benefit from a heuristic of panopticism if it considers both similarities and differences between classical and numerocratic panopticism

Practices of Ethnographic Research: Introduction to the Special Issue

[no abstract available

Does higher education research have a theory deficit? Explorations on theory work

Our contribution aims kick off a nuanced debate about theories and theorising in higher education research. Drawing on sociological literature that reflects on theories and theorising, we introduce the notion of ‘theory work.’ Theory work emphasises that theories are practical tools that can be used for a variety of purposes. To make different forms of engagement with theories visible, we develop in a first step three conceptual lenses that facilitate a nuanced observation of different forms of engagement with theories in higher education research: the lenses focus on (1) ranges of theories, (2) ways of engaging with theories, and (3) degrees of epistemic autonomy of theory work. In a second step, we operationalise these lenses for two thematic fields: we discuss theory work in research concerned with organisation and governance, and theory work in research on academic careers. Our contribution shows that there are both differences and similarities in theory work across thematic fields with in higher education research. Across these differences and similarities our conceptual lenses reveal a variety of forms of theories and theory work in higher education research. We conclude by discussing several benefits a conceptual toolkit on theory work can have for higher education research more generally

Biographical representation, from narrative to list: The evolution of curricula vitae in the humanities, 1950 to 2010

Curricula vitae (CVs) are a crucial device for the evaluation of academic personae and biographies. They play a key role in the competitive assessments that underpin the reproduction of the academic workforce. Drawing on 80 CVs which have been part of candidates’ applications for vacant professorships, our article provides a longitudinal study of the development of CVs used by German scholars in professorial appointment procedures in the disciplines of German studies and history between 1950 and the late 2010s. The analysis reveals the evolution of CVs by tracing their various morphological shifts. We distinguish four formats throughout the period of study: CVs initially had a (1) narrative format that develops into an (2) intermediary segmented form before CVs take on a (3) list form in which biographical information congeals into distinct categories. In the 2010s, the list form develops into a (4) hyper-differentiated list form in which coherent biographical representations are finally dissolved into almost eclectic accumulations of finely grained performance categories. Against the backdrop of this finding, the contribution concludes with three general observations: First, the evolution of CVs reflects changes in the institutional environment, not least the increased competitive pressures in academic careers. Second, the evolution of biographical representations also conveys a transformation of the academic persona throughout which boundaries between personal and professional biographies are established. Third, we propose a reactivity of current list form CVs through which academics are disciplined to live up to the categories that wait to be realized in their CVs.Peer Reviewe

The celebrity logics of the academic field. The unequal distribution of citation visibility of Applied Linguistics professors in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

This article investigates the distribution of citation visibility of Applied Linguistics professors in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. By comparing citation counts from Google Scholar, we reveal hyperinequalities between more and less visible professors. We register strong inequalities between English-, German- and French-language scholars as well within languages, especially within the English-language community. These inequalities bear witness to the celebrity logics in academia, i.e. the hyperunequal distribution of visibility between a few >starsdiscursive capitalism<, which designates the institutional transfer of value from the many citing to the few cited members in disciplinary communities

Does higher education research have a theory deficit? Explorations on theory work

This article was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.Our contribution aims kick off a nuanced debate about theories and theorising in higher education research. Drawing on sociological literature that reflects on theories and theorising, we introduce the notion of ‘theory work.’ Theory work emphasises that theories are practical tools that can be used for a variety of purposes. To make different forms of engagement with theories visible, we develop in a first step three conceptual lenses that facilitate a nuanced observation of different forms of engagement with theories in higher education research: the lenses focus on (1) ranges of theories, (2) ways of engaging with theories, and (3) degrees of epistemic autonomy of theory work. In a second step, we operationalise these lenses for two thematic fields: we discuss theory work in research concerned with organisation and governance, and theory work in research on academic careers. Our contribution shows that there are both differences and similarities in theory work across thematic fields with in higher education research. Across these differences and similarities our conceptual lenses reveal a variety of forms of theories and theory work in higher education research. We conclude by discussing several benefits a conceptual toolkit on theory work can have for higher education research more generally.Peer Reviewe

The Nexus between Methods and Power in Sociological Research

This article develops an integrative perspective on the nexus between power and sociological research methods. By reflecting upon two of the most widely used methodological approaches in sociology – standardized survey research and qualitative interview research – we develop a comprehensive heuristic framework for examining the ways in which the use of sociological methods affects and intersects any social scientific practice: (1) the power effects that societies and institutional settings exert on methods and the use of methods, (2) power in the use and implementation of methods, and (3) the power effects that methods and the use of methods exert on societies and institutional settings