How institutions influence accepted knowledge

Consider four stages.

Universities

Universities decide:

• what departments exist,
• what gets taught,
• who receives academic positions,
• which research areas receive institutional support.

Publishers

Publishers decide which manuscripts are published and distributed.

Funding bodies

Funding organizations influence which research projects can be undertaken.

Professional communities

Scholars determine:

• which questions are important,
• which methods are respectable,
• which arguments deserve attention.

None of this automatically means that the resulting knowledge is false.

It means that the production and circulation of knowledge occur within institutions.