Some reflections on ‘Field Theory’ and its contribution to analysis of the university in the context of current policies on higher education

Abstract

Many specialists have considered and conducted research onchanges in, and the current situation of, higher education within universitiesboth in Latin America and the world. Coincidentally, these changes have aglobal character. There has been a heteronomizing trend since the 1980sin terms of a framework of an ‘Evaluating State’ which seeks to improvethe economic management and quality of universities by incorporating newactors such as private companies and, hence, the logic of the market. Thushigher education policies have been implemented which seek to increaseproductivity and quality through regulatory mechanisms that will lead tonew forms of academic activity and university organization. In this context,and on the basis of Bourdieu’s Field Theory, this article examines how histheory allows us to think about these new forms, and to foresee possiblescenarios in the framework of the struggle to appropriate the various issueswhich are currently in play on different levels: between universities, betweenuniversity bodies, between faculties and between academics.