Collaboration, Reputation, and Ethics in American Academic Life: Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills

by Guy Oakes, Arthur J. Vidich

In the course of exploring the history of the Gerth-Mills association, Guy Oakes and Author J. Vidich consider themes central to questions of academic ethics, including how the distribution of knowledge and power in collaboration shapes the social production of authorship, academic reputation, and intellectual authority; how the dynamics of collaboration play into the competition over credit for scientific and scholarly work; and how concealment, secrecy, and deception contribute to the building of academic reputation. Thus the historic partnership of Gerth and Mills serves as a point of departure for a sustained discussion of essential issues in the ethics and politics of academic life.

188 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999