This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Labaree, D. F. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Educational Researchers: Living With a Lesser Form of Knowledge

The Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 116R Erickson Hall East Lansing, MI48824. His specialties are the sociology and history of education, teacher education, and educational policy

In this article, I argue that key characteristics of educational knowledge both constrain and enable the work of educational researchers, as producers of this knowledge, in distinctive ways. Educational knowledge is soft (vs. hard), applied (vs. Pure), and provides use value (vs. exchange value). As a result, knowledge production in education is organized in a manner that is structurally egalitarian and substantively divergent. Some consequences of this are negative. For example, educational researchers find themselves unable to speak authoritatively about their field and feel pressure to imitate unproductive forms of intellectual practice. Other consequences are positive: For example, they have the potential for speaking to a wide lay audience and for participating in a relatively open and unregulated mode of scholarly production.

Educational Researcher, Vol. 27, No. 8, 4-12 (1998)
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X027008004


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. F. Labaree The Peculiar Problems of Preparing Educational Researchers Educational Researcher, May 1, 2003; 32(4): 13 - 22. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. T. PUTNAM and H. BORKO What Do New Views of Knowledge and Thinking Have to Say About Research on Teacher Learning? Educational Researcher, January 1, 2000; 29(1): 4 - 15. [PDF]