Between a sect and a corporation: how university ethos is formed

Abstract

The regulation of modern universities today is increasingly organized in the logic of the corporate metaphor. The abundance of managerial practices such as the introduction of various performance indicators — comes from the commonly used theoretical language describing academia as a corporate structure. At the center of this structure is assumed to be a rational individual who makes decisions as a result of cost-benefit calculations. However, we capture the paradox of an abundance of academics who act in ways that seem economically and socially disadvantageous: welcome excessive workloads, and experience increased stress from managerial practices. We call this paradox the “unexplained residual of motivation.”

In the economic-corporate approach there is a polemic around this problem. For example, an economic solution has been proposed by addition of non-material “academic reward” to the utility calculation of academics. Within the framework of this article, we show the failure of this solution and propose another one. Its essence lies in an alternative metaphor of the university as a sect in the Weberian sense. The article analyzes empirical cases of two Moscow universities and demonstrates that behind seemingly economically rational relations there is a value rational system of sectarian character, which endows managerial practices with additional meanings and functionality.

 Through qualitative research based on 25 interviews we illustrate how the concepts of “ethos”, “salvation anxiety” and “chosenness” allow us to explain the paradox of unexplained residual motivation. We show how the mask of the economically rational corporation hides the workings of university ethos, sectarian selection procedures, and the search for signs of salvation.

For citation: Kalgin, A., Gnisiuk, N., Astakhova, А. (2026) Between a sect and a corporation: how university ethos is formed. Russia’s Directions. Vol. 4. No. 2. P. 113–140.

Additional Info

Submitted: December 8, 2025

Reviewed: April 21st, 2026

Copyright: © Auhtors, 2026

Distribution: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)