Trowler's Cultures and Change in Higher Education

I feel like I've stumbled across a gem in this book (thanks, U. of Houston - Downtown, for the loan on ILL). Trowler, making a great case for why the unit of analysis matters when talking about culture in higher education, comments on the related issue of how one talks about culture. He suggests that a more complex, nuanced "multiple culture configuration" (MCC) approach may be worth the trouble, compared to a nomothetic understanding (a broad, more simplistic understanding ). The choice of MCC implies that one shifts down to smaller units of analysis - "organizational workgroups," rather than entire disciplines, or whole institutions. The MCC perspective also (I love this quote) "indicates that a 'market gardening' rather than an agribusiness approach to innovation might be the better one" (p. 14).

I've read ahead in the chapters on "teaching and learning regimes." I'll have more to share on that later.

Trowler, P. (2008). Cultures and change in higher education: Theories and practices. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.