Academic Gamesmanship: How to Make a PhD Pay (Updated Edition)

When the owner of a hard-earned Ph.D. accepts a university teaching post, he hopes for advancement based on merit. But he soon sees that academic success is negotiable. Today, gamesmanship is the Ph.D.'s surest means of getting to the top.

Academic Gamesmanship will be to the Ph.D. what The Peter Principle is to the business executive: a brilliant-and hilarious-guide to the strategies of success. Its expose of academic pretentiousness will seem irresistibly funny to every reader. But behind the wit lies the insight of a noted sociologist. Dr. van den Berghe punctures academic pomposity to reveal inefficiency. He weighs the in-fighting, credit-stealing, and buck-passing used in jockeying for power. He even questions the value of many scholars' goals.