Symbolic capital and scholarly communication in the humanities: An analysis of sociotechnical transition

Abstract

This dissertation offers a conceptual study of academic publishing, especially for the Humanities, in the context of the current transition from print to digital text. It centralizes the crucial service that publishers offer to authors in formal scholarly communication, namely that of bestowing symbolic capital (or: esteem, prestige, renown) to scholars. On the premise that disciplinary communities shape research and communication practices, chapter 1 extends the employment of accepted methods from the sociology of science to analyse the epistemological and social characteristics of scholarly communities in the Humanities. These characteristics shape disciplinary research and publication practices, which are implicitly understood by insiders but seldomly articulated. Chapter 2 explicates these habitual practices of scholarly authors and publishers and addresses the value of their interactions. Its analysis is rooted in Bourdieusian field theory, albeit with significant extensions, for instance on the mechanisms with which symbolic capital may be transferred. Precisely this esteem-bestowing function of scholarly publishing has been established over the course of the twentieth century and remains vital, despite the recent rise of online scholarly communication networks and content delivery platforms by other parties than publishers; this is the line of argument in chapters 3 and 4. The coda suggests further merit of this conceptual framework in exploring current issues in scholarly publishing at large.