The symposium addresses transitions in educational organizations focusing the multilevel-interplay between macro-, meso-, and microlevel by applying discourse- and practice-theoretical perspectives: Analyzing historical changes and major shifts as well as the trends and “epistemic drift” (Elzinga 1985) in the educational system allows a ‘long’ and ‘wide’ perspective on transitions of and within educational organizations. On the other hand, focusing on everyday social practice in organizations can help us to get a better understanding of the discrete processes of bringing-about transitions in educational fields and organizations.

Based on Foucaultian and Bourdieuian theoretical perspectives, the symposium connects the analytical levels of underlying rationalities, policies, institutional strategies and social practices and suggests an analytical perspective, analyzing social change as change of discourses and of practices in institutional settings (Bourdieu 1990, Bourdieu/Wacquant 1992). Focusing on transitions of the educational system and academia as transitions, the symposium adresses changes of knowledge sets, logics and patterns of orientation. While the first session focuses on the institutional practices, the second session addresses the relevance of matching processes in transitioning.

Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press . Bourdieu, P./Wacquant, L. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Elzinga, A. (1985). ‘Research, bureaucracy and the drift of epistemic criteria’ in Wittrock, B. et al. (eds.), The University Research System, the Public Policies of the Homes of Scientists. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wicksell.