ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the nature and consequences of changes in public research policy towards increased competitiveness and strategic funding for educational research in Sweden. Motivated by the basic fact that state interference within the realms of educational research always relates to political interests in its social value, focus will be on the transition of arrangements and conceptions of such ideas and their implications for critical and autonomous research, long considered to guarantee the production of high-quality research of societal importance. The chapter argues that educational research during its whole history has been thought of as serving societal needs and values be it demands of pedagogical training within universities or needs originating from challenges in the education of a population as defined by education policies. It then deals with issues under the title of academic ethos in the way Merton conceptualized it as a defense of science in a troubled time.
