The relationship between gender research and society in the Norwegian Brainwash controversy of 2010-2011

Abstract

The author investigates the relationship between gender research and society in the current context of neo-liberal and managerial universities. In this context of the new governance of science, research is expected to actively interact with society and to be involved in transdisciplinary problem-solving in close collaboration with various social actors (Slaughter and Leslie 1997; Gibbons et al. 1994; Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff 1998). The article provides an in-depth empirical study of the relationship between gender research and society by analysing a recent public controversy in Norway that unveiled different social actors' definitions and expectations of gender research. The study focuses on the different views and perceptions that different actors had of the relationship between gender research and society during this unusually large public controversy. The analysis is conducted through a close reading of newspaper articles, articles in scholarly journals and blog posts. The article highlights the diverse understandings of the relationship between gender research and society, and hence strengthens claims that a transformation is taking place in universities from detached research systems to more interactive ones. The academic community as a whole, including gender researchers, can benefit from learning about the rhetorical strategies of the social world of gender research in this debate to maintain and change the public image of the interaction between science and society.