Identifying configurations of higher education: Reflections on concepts that compare complex cultural settings

Abstract

This paper examines the idea of qualitative comparing in order to create a heuristic concept that will enable relational structures to be examined, drawing on the sociological tradition founded by Norbert Elias. Subsequently, an empirical research example—the comparison of three ‘mentality spaces’ in post-socialist societies in Central Europe drawing on intergenerational biographical data—is used to demonstrate how the theory of figuration can show the way in which underlying historical structures consolidate into a social ‘climate’ that permits certain structures and blocks others. Next, the comparative concept is applied to the core results of the RANLHE project using a typology of the intercultural constellations of HE systems in terms of their efficiency, economy, social responsibility and culture. The national systems of universities in the different countries are then delineated to illustrate the dominant styles of education in terms of their specific figurations. It is concluded that figurations form a complex relational framework between structure and action that possess a certain inner constitutional logic, such as a certain habitus, an aesthetic design principle, mentality spaces or national styles of education.