ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the creation of the Potsdam Institute, the institutional and societal arenas will play key roles. Alan Sokal, for instance, has found a sympathetic mouth piece in the New York Times as it has denounced postmodernity, and anything labeled postmodern, as leftist politics gone insane. There are at least four different approaches to academic politics: apolitical, structural, discursive, and postmodern. Academic politics also takes place on an institutional level in regard to governance issues. Traditionally, the relinquishing of control to an administration is interpreted as a form of apathy or academic elitism as professors are content with their tenure and stability. Academic work is based on objectivity and value-neutrality, while the latter is symbolized by subjectivity, partisan viewpoints, and advocacy. The structural approach to academic politics, developed in the fields of history, political science, and sociology, questions the notion of apolitical academic work.
