ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the relations between the academic system and the American society. It focuses on the aims and organizational forms of various types of institutions. The chapter examines the society and the role higher education plays in it. In the first place, academic activity contributes to the creation of a culture. The most essential aspect of this activity is the construction of systems of knowledge. The second level concerns the set of mechanisms, which one shall call institutions, by means of which a society organizes its change, that is, its adjustment to modifications occurring within itself or in its environment. A university is an organization occupying a territory, possessing a system of authority, and utilizing certain resources with a view to definite objectives and according to certain working regulations. During the nineteenth century, the university's essential role was to follow and accelerate the social changes leading to national integration and to the constitution of a national elite.
