The Interdisciplinary Project as Social Form
The Interdisciplinary Project as Social Form
This chapter examines the rise and the challenges of the funded interdisciplinary project as a format for research. A range of internal and external causes account for this rise: the complexity of urgent social problems, disciplinary self-critiques, university resource constraints, the influence of neoliberal formats, and public pressure for accountability in research expenditures. Still, the very conditions that facilitate the inauguration of interdisciplinary ventures impede their success in practice. The chapter reviews the interpersonal, intellectual, professional, and institutional sources of team conflict and project dysfunction. It argues for a pragmatic approach of ongoing reflexive attention to social process within the research group, seeking not to overcome but to take account of the inevitable market logics, political agendas, and epistemological compromises.
Keywords: interdisciplinarity, university research, project-based research, research funding, research team, organizational conflict
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