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Knowledge Competition and Personal Ambition

A Theoretical Framework for Knowledge Utilization and Action in Context

Linköping University

CRISTINA ROBERTSON HÖRBERG

Linköping University

This article focuses on knowledge and the use of research in relation to local actors in social situations by analyzing data from ongoing research in Swedish schools. The authors propose a theoretical framework for knowledge utilization. It introduces the concept of knowledge competition in relation to teachers' personal views, arguing that the use of knowledge must be understood in its social context and in relation to how different people comprehend knowledge. The authors explore the utilization of research-based knowledge under different themes: teachers' views, utilization, context, knowledge as personal and situated, and thinking and acting. There is often a measure of competition inherent in the desire to obtain new knowledge, where competition is understood to be the relationship that arises between the teacher and the context and a process, that is, characterized as being socially negotiated. The authors conclude that a teacher's knowledge is mainly personal, specific, and action oriented concerning its origin, content, and function. Local actors (i.e., teachers) may be influenced more by frames, personal needs, and driving forces than by formal research and knowledge created out of their local context. A theoretical framework for knowledge use and action in context is presented.

Science Communication, Vol. 19, No. 4, 328-348 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/1075547098019004004


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