Welche Rolle spielen Fachkulturen heute? Bericht von einer Erkundungsstudie.

With the present exploration, we aimed to answer the question whether distinct disciplinary cultures are present at today’s universities. To this purpose, we conducted 16 interviews with scholars from different disciplines. Qualitative analysis shows that disciplinary cultures in a narrow, epistemological sense (including forms of knowledge and work as well as organisation of teaching and learning) are perceived as distinct aspects of higher education and deemed important. Disciplinary cultures in a broader sense related to lifestyle and habitus, however, were hardly reported and not perceived as characteristic. Questions of social selectivity or inequality within universities were rarely touched in the interviews. Own cultures are typically described as rather heterogeneous, which is not the case for other cultures. Handling of possible cultures as well as differences by the interviewees turned out to be very cautious, at the same time restrained and respectful. Even where differences are observed or different values are revealed, there is little evidence of disputes. Consequences of these findings for research into disciplinary cultures and higher education are discussed.