Social mechanisms and strategic action fields

The example of the emergence of the European Research Area

Bibliographic Data

ID7822639
AuthorsIlkka Kauppinen (0000-0002-9175-1525, University of Jyväskylä, corresponding author), Brendan Cantwell (0000-0003-3882-4200, Michigan State University), Sheila Slaughter (University of Georgia)
Year2017
Volume32
Issue6
Pages796-813
Publication date2017-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0268-5809 • E-ISSN: 1461-7242
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0268580917726630
OpenAlexW2753183187
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited29

The point of departure of this article is Fligstein and McAdam’s A Theory of Fields. It is argued that their theoretical framework would be strengthened by a more systematic focus in social mechanism-based explanations since this would increase understanding of how new strategic action fields (SAFs) emerge. This argument is illustrated by exploring the emergence of the European Research Area (ERA) as a SAF. In identifying social mechanisms the article draws both on Fligstein and McAdam’s studies and on academic capitalism literature. The main conclusion is that the emergence of the ERA was brought about by multiple social mechanisms such as collective attribution of threat/opportunity, social appropriation and innovative collective action, coalition formation and boundary deactivation. Moreover, the emergence of the ERA was a contested and complex process that faced considerable resistance from different actors. Full implementation of the ERA is still an ongoing and open ended process

Appropriation · Collective action · Economics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Social science · Sociology · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Higher Education Governance and Development · Law · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models

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