Mass Higher Education Theory: A Study on the Cultural-Personality Dimension of Mass Higher Education

Author: Wang Hongcai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The main body of the book is divided into four parts and nine chapters, while the other sections consist of an introduction, references, and a postscript. The introduction elaborates on the three writing intentions of the book. Part I clarifies what and how the research is conducted, with Chapter 1 focusing on the research methods of higher education massification. It first reviews existing research findings, summarizes three basic assumptions and eight research pathways, and then explains the methods used in this book. Chapter 2 explains the fundamental concepts used in the book, with a focus on the origin and significance of higher education. Part II explores theoretical frameworks, with Chapter 3 analyzing the significance and historical context of Martin Trow's proposition on higher education massification, pointing out its imperfections and construction direction, and proposing alternative Trow-based standards for higher education massification. Chapter 4 examines the historical process of the formation and development of higher education massification from a historical perspective, identifying four stages: secularization, pragmatism, identification, and individualization. It highlights that the emergence of higher education massification is marked by the identification stage, where the scale of higher education becomes a key indicator of social development and the level of higher education advancement. Part III focuses on the social action construction of higher education massification. Part IV concludes that higher education massification is a crucial component of modernization, with its direction being individualization, which necessarily prioritizes individual development as the fundamental measure of higher education progress.