ABSTRACT
As research into teaching, learning and professional development has shifted beyond cognitive and individually focused accounts (Fenwick & Edwards this volume (Chapter 1), Peseta et al. 2016), what begins to surface are the negotiations, interdependencies and collectives inherent in academic work environments. These emergent socialities can be analysed by drawing on the rich conceptual resources of sociology that are used to explore complex issues in higher education. Yet sociology encompasses distinct traditions, concepts and methodologies that are rarely brought to comparative analysis in higher education or examined for their relative commensurability. In this chapter we attempt such a comparative endeavour, focusing on academics in a disciplinary collective and the resources they call upon in their professional development as university teachers, and in their response to organisational change.
