An Academic Civilization?

Authors

Inbar Gotlib-Rivkin, Tel-Hai University
Uri Cohen, Tel Aviv University

Keywords

academic civilization, modern civilization, higher education, research university, academic culture

Abstract

Can institutions of higher education be defined as constituting a civilization that has emerged from modern civilization? This theoretical study defines a new concept of academic civilization and demonstrates how prominent characteristics that define the collective identity of modern civilization are manifested in institutions of higher education. The study focuses on six specific characteristics: expansion, flexibility and diversification, center-periphery relations, academic culture, autonomy and academic freedom, and the monopolization of professional training and the professional middle class. The conceptual analysis presented here provides a significant addition to sociological discourse, offering a refined conceptualization of civilizations. The goal is to expand academic debates from the 1930s and the 1960s concerning the concept of civilization and its relation to institutions of higher education. The importance of arguing for the existence of an academic civilization is that it defines a modern collective identity, one whose global expansion processes may generate similar cultural, social, political, linguistic, and religious characteristics throughout the world.

Recommended Citation

Gotlib-Rivkin, Inbar and Cohen, Uri (2026) "An Academic Civilization?," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 94: No. 94, Article 9.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol94/iss94/9