ABSTRACT
Two historically-minded sociologists have provided valuable perspectives on this topic. Joseph Ben-David, seeking a sociological theory of scientific growth, posited that the vitality of science as an autonomous subsystem required the establishment of secure social roles for scientists. Since the modern era saw this accomplished most powerfully in universities, Ben-David's writings analyzed the ascendancy of German universities in the nineteenth century and American universities in the twentieth. The key in both cases was a condition of de-centralized competition accompanied by considerable intellectual freedom. Ben-David illuminated particular factors that allowed the US to surpass Germany in scientific productivity by about 1930: the American graduate school was better able to accommodate both advanced training and research; American departments could encompass greater and more diverse subject specialization than the German pattern of chairs and institutes; and American universities derived additional vitality through their multiple ties with external constit~encies.~
Burton R. Clark has approached this topic from the opposite direction, con-
structing a sociology of higher education that emphasizes the centrality of knowledge and knowledge growth. He has suggested that the Humboltian ideal ought to be reformulated for current purposes as the "research-teaching-study nexus," the terms and effectiveness of which vary for each national system. The imperatives of scientific research and of mass higher education generate centrifugal forces that strain the nexus, but it can be insulated and preserved through differentiation within and across institutions. The distinctive US pattern of the 'vertical university' has allowed this nexus to prevail with great autonomy at the level of the graduate department. Across the system, the competitive arena in which they operate has produced a hierarchy of 'research universities' which concentrates scientific resources at a limited number of institutions. In Clark's formulation, nevertheless, the vitality of the research-teaching-study nexus remains comparatively and historically pr~blematic.~
The complementary perspectives of Ben-David and Clark go far to elucidate the intersection of science as an investigative activity with universities as educational institutions. They leave implicit, however, one of the driving forces of twentiethcentury science - the direct support of academic research by external sponsors. This chapter proposes a larger framework that incorporates institutional encouragement for scientific research with the nature and consequences of two kinds of external support. This scheme will be used here to describe the evolution of universities and science in the United States in the twentieth century. However, this general framework might be applied to any country.
