Abstract

The undergraduate-academic power dynamic is being reframed in the current university climate. This article questions the research on power relationships within higher education whereby the dynamic is acknowledged without proper consideration. As such, the formation of power relationships remains unexplored and misunderstood. This article advocates a different approach to understanding power relationships within universities, one which seeks to unveil hidden mechanisms through a dialectical theorisation of systemic and constitutive power. It explores the ‘traditional’ power relationship between the social roles of teachers and learners, which is being reframed through the conflicting dynamics of the consumer-provider power relationship and the partnership power relationship. In this article, I use critical discourse analysis to explore 32 interviews, 12 observations and 12 documents from two post-1992 English universities. What was once considered a stable power dynamic is now under negotiation, creating confusion for undergraduates and academics regarding appropriate behaviour within universities.

摘要

在当前的大学氛围下，本科生学术力量的动态正在重新构建。本文对高等教育中权力关系的研究提出质疑，从而在没有适当考虑的情况下就承认了动力。因此，权力关系的形成仍未得到探索和误解。本文主张采用一种不同的方法来理解大学内部的权力关系，该方法旨在通过系统性和构成性权力的辩证性理论揭示隐藏的机制。它探索了教师和学习者的社会角色之间的“传统”权力关系，这种关系通过消费者-提供者权力关系和合伙人权力关系之间相互矛盾的动态而重新构建。在这篇文章中，我使用批判性话语分析来研究1992年后两所英语大学的32项访谈，12项观察和12篇文献。曾经被认为是稳定的动力动态的东西现在正在谈判中，这使大学生和学者对大学中的适当行为感到困惑。