ABSTRACT
The need to hold some distance from the dominant academic pressures arises because the knowledges and routines of universities have institutionalized the agenda and cultural preferences of dominant social groups and lent to them the force of universal or general knowledges. Key contradictions were in fact institutionalized in ways that made it harder for teachers to fall back on academic authority. Perhaps the most important feature was the 'sub-group' system of small self-governing groups of researchers and teachers from which most of the collective projects, including the books, arose. The expectation that 'new people' could respond, on the basis of some reading, to very complex and challenging presentations was one of the most persistent delusions of the teaching staff. The teacher is usually the most powerful source of recognitions in a learning group, at least initially, and, often, the most powerful in other ways.
