Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine

281 Pages·2012·2.14 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Popp Berman

Creating the Market University

Creating the Market University
how academic science became
an economic engine
Elizabeth Popp Berman
princeton university press
princeton and oxford
Copyright © 2012 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berman, Elizabeth Popp, 1975–
Creating the market university : how academic science became an economic engine / Elizabeth
Popp Berman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-14708-6 (hardback)
1. Science—Study and teaching (Higher)—United States. 2. Universities and colleges—
Research—Economic aspects—United States. 3. Academic-industrial collaboration—
United States. I. Title.
Q183.3.A1B466 2012
507.1'173–dc23 2011035707
British Library Cataloging-i n- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Minion Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my parents, with love

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1
Academic Science as an Economic Engine 1
The Changing Nature of Academic Science 4
Studying the Changes in Academic Science 8
Explaining the Rise of Market Logic in Academic Science 12
Overview of the Book 17
Chapter 2
Market Logic in the Era of Pure Science 19
Federal Funding and the Support of Science Logic 21
Using Market Logic in the 1950s and 1960s 23
Limits to the Spread of Market Logic 29
The Pillars of the Postwar System Begin to Crumble 35
The Effects of the Dissolving Federal Consensus 37
Chapter 3
Innovation Drives the Economy—
an Old Idea with New Implications 40
Market- Logic Practices of the 1970s and Their Limits 42
The Political Power of an Economic Idea 44
The Innovation Frame and the University 55
Chapter 4
Faculty Entrepreneurship in the Biosciences 58
Before Biotech 60
Early Entrepreneurship 63
1978: A Turning Point 69
Academic Entrepreneurship: Money Changes Everything 76
Why Did Bioscience Entrepreneurship Take Off? 87
Chapter 5
Patenting University Inventions 94
University Patenting during the Science- Logic Era 96
Barriers to the Expansion of University Patenting 104
Innovation, the Economy, and Government Patent Policy 106
University Patenting after 1980 111
Why Did University Patenting Take Off? 114
viii  •  Contents
Chapter 6
Creating University- Industry Research Centers 119
UIRCs versus Biotech Entrepreneurship and University Patenting 119
The Trajectory of University- Industry Research Centers 122
The Emergence of Federal and State Support for UIRCs 131
The Expansion of State and Federal Support for UIRCs in the 1980s 139
Why Did University- Industry Research Centers Spread? 141
Chapter 7
The Spread of Market Logic 146
The Expansion of Biotech Entrepreneurship, Patenting, and UIRCs 147
Market Logic Elsewhere in Academic Science 149
University Administrators and the Rhetoric of Innovation 154
Science Logic and Market Logic: An Uneasy Coexistence 156
Chapter 8
Conclusion 158
How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine:
Considering the Evidence 159
Reconsidering Alternative Arguments 162
Speaking to Larger Conversations 167
Notes 179
Bibliography 221
Index 261
Acknowledgments
This book was a long time in the making, and I have incurred many debts
along the way. Neil Fligstein has been a guiding influence since our first cap-
puccino at Caffe Strada many years ago. He has always given me the freedom
to find my own intellectual path, yet has probably shaped my thinking more
than anyone else— maybe with the exception of Max Weber, which is not bad
company to be in.
Kim Voss was generous with her time and incisive with her questions as she
listened to this project develop over the years. Todd LaPorte, who asked, “What
is this a case of?” brought his insider’s knowledge of research administration
at Berkeley as well as his academic expertise. Cathryn Carson taught me how
to think like a historian, for which I am deeply grateful, although I still have
an unhistorian- like tendency to look for patterns as well as narratives. And
David Kirp provided a critical early opportunity to explore these issues when I
worked on his book, Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing
of Higher Education.
I owe enormous thanks to my dissertation group, LDG, for endless rounds
of intellectual and moral support at Berkeley and beyond. Hwa- Jen Liu, Te-
resa Sharpe, Lisa Stampnitzky, and Youyenn Teo, I would not have finished this
book without you. Among the many people who made the Berkeley sociology
department a lively and supportive place to be, I would particularly like to ac-
knowledge Irene Bloemraad, Greggor Mattson, C. J. Pascoe, Jenn Sherman, and
Jennifer Utrata.
At Albany, I have had the good fortune to be part of a warm, collegial, and
stimulating sociology department. I am particularly grateful for the support of
Richard Lachmann and Jim Zetka, both of whom read the entire manuscript,
and for helpful conversations with Ron Jacobs and Karyn Loscocco. My ju-
nior colleagues (some no longer junior), Angie Chung, Kecia Johnson, Joanne
Kaufman, Ryan King, Aaron Major, and Kate Strully, all gave helpful feedback
on chapters as well as making the department a fun place to be. I am also deeply
appreciative of research assistance from Rakkoo Chung, Josh McCabe, Laura
Milanes, Nick Pagnucco, and Myeongjae Yeo.
A larger intellectual community has also shaped this project. Martin Kenney,
Daniel Kleinman, Mike Lounsbury, Jason Owen- Smith, and an anonymous re-
viewer read the whole manuscript and provided trenchant suggestions that I
hope made this a better book. Lauren Edelman, Rita Gaber, Elihu Gerson, Ed
Hackett, Chris Niedt, Martha Poon, Sergio Sismondo, and Doogab Yi all pro-
vided useful and much- appreciated feedback on shorter sections. Conversa-