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The purpose of this article is to introduce the themed section of History of Education Review on “The History of Knowledge and the History of Education”, comprising four empirical articles that together seek to bring the history of education into fuller dialogue with the approaches and methods of the nascent field of the history of knowledge.

This introductory article provides a broad overview of the history of knowledge for the benefit of historians of education, introduces the four themed section articles that follow, and draws out some of their overarching themes and concepts.

The history of knowledge concept of “arenas of knowledge” emerges as generative across the themed section. Authors also engage with problems of the legitimacy of knowledges, and with pedagogy as practice. In addition, focusing on colonial and postcolonial contexts raises reflexive questions about history of knowledge approaches that have so far largely been developed in European and North American scholarship.

The history of education has not previously been strongly represented among the fields that have gone into the formation of the history of knowledge as a synthetic, interdisciplinary approach to historical studies. Nor have historians of education much engaged with its distinguishing concepts and methodologies. The themed section also extends the history of knowledge itself through its strong focus on colonial and postcolonial histories.

The purpose of this article is to investigate attempts to safeguard classical humanism in secondary schools by appealing to a cultural-historical link with Antiquity, voiced in the face of educational reforms in Sweden between 1865 and 1971.

By focusing on the content of the pedagogical journal Pedagogisk Tidskrift, the article highlights a number of examples of how an ancient historical lineage was evoked and how historical knowledge was mobilized and contested in various ways.

The article argues that the enduring negotiation over the educational need to maintain a strong link with the ancient past was strained due to increasing scholarly specialization and thus entangled in competing views on reform and what was deemed “traditional” or “modern”.

From a larger perspective, the conflict over the role of Antiquity in Swedish secondary schools reveals a trajectory for the history of education as part of and later apart from a general history of the humanities. Classical history originally served as a common past from which Swedish culture and education developed, but later lost this integrating function within the burgeoning discipline of Pedagogy. The findings demonstrate the value of bringing the newly (re)formed history of humanities and history of education closer together.

As knowledge is released from the bounds of libraries, as research becomes no longer confined to The academy, and education/certification is available, any time/any place, the university and the faculty must redefine themselves. Liberal studies, once the core, and currently eschewed in favor of science and technology, will be reborn in those institutions that can rise above the mundane and embrace an emerging “third culture”.

Despite the ever‐burgeoning literature and growth of conceptual models and tools, hard‐pressed managers seem to find it difficult to appreciate the special significance that knowledge management (KM) has for redefining their managerial work. In two complementary articles, this problem is investigated and ideas developed to help turn existing information about KM into “usable ideas”. In this first article, the importance of helping managers to relate knowledge management to what is organisationally important (currency), to what furthers an individual’s goals and interests (personal relevance), and to what is practical within an individual’s current capacity (actionable), is explained. Currency is explored using a managerial knowledge portfolio that identifies the knowledge to be managed in the critical areas of managerial focus, strategy, operational processes and change management. Actionability is explored using an organisational knowledge management activity matrix that describes KM activities in terms which are meaningful and provides a basis for a KM audit.

This chapter explores dominant ideologies theoretically in an organizational setting. A framework is developed to advance our understanding of how ‘dominant ideological modes of rationality’ reflect predictability through the reproduction of accepted truths, hence social order in organization. Dominant ideological modes of rationality constitute professional identity, power relations, and rationality and frame prevailing mentalities and social practices in organization. It is suggested that members’ categorization devices structure and constrain social practices. Supplementing the existent power literature, the chapter concludes that professional identity produces rationality, power and truth – truth being the overarching concept assembled through the rationalities assembled in professional members’ categorization devices. Research and managerial implications are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine influence strategies in organization-stakeholder relationships, by examining the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Anschutz Entertainment Group’s (AEG) involvement in the operations of MasterCard Center in Beijing, China.

Using Frooman’s model of stakeholder influence strategies, a case study of AEG and the NBA China was undertaken, relying on archival sources and interviews with key stakeholders.

The study produced two major findings. First, Bloomage employed different influence strategies to press the NBA and AEG to further reduce their involvement in the MasterCard Center’s operations. Second, Bloomage used cultural differences to justify the need to reduce its reliance on the NBA and AEG.

The study adds to the literature on stakeholder theory and sport organizations by examining organizations establishing themselves in foreign markets, and the influence strategies employed by key local stakeholders.

Identities are central to the regulation and control of knowledge‐intensive work. Rather than being managed on the basis of technocratic or bureaucratic control, knowledge intensive firms are employing knowledge workers who enact and internalize identities and roles that guide everyday behaviour in organizations. However, the concept of identity is relational and contingent on local conditions and interactions in everyday practices, different identities may be complementary or even contradictory. The paper aims to show that consultants are altering between being experts and speaking‐partners, two identities that in many ways are complementary but also mutually reinforcing.

This is a case study of a Swedish management consulting firm, Johnson Consulting.

The challenge for consultants is to be capable of effortlessly transgressing the line of demarcation between the two identities – expert and speaking‐partner – and their accompanying practices for the benefit of the client. Skilled consultants are trained at moving back and forth between these positions while less experienced consultants may find it intimidating to lose their position as expert.

The paper concludes that knowledge‐intensive firms such as management consulting firms should articulate and elaborate on the various identities mobilized in everyday work when encountering clients.

The paper uses the literature on identities in knowledge‐intensive firms and an empirical study of management consultants to show that knowledge‐intensive work is always operating on the level of identities and self‐images. Understanding knowledge intensive firms thus demands an understanding of how co‐workers perceive their own role.

The purpose of the paper is to propose a systems change lens to current approaches to assessing social impact in social ventures. Many existing tools for measuring social impact are limited in their capacity to assess the inherent complexities and interconnected nature of the work done by social enterprises.

The paper uses in-depth interviews with sector experts to gain insights into their needs related to impact assessment, as well as issues they face when attempting to understand and measure their impact.

Expert interviews provide insights into how social impact occurs through interconnected systems. It also highlights the need for impact assessment to better consider interaction within systems and networks. Results support previous work concerning the need for methods that can better account for complexity, interacting problems and the place of power in influencing actions.

Following results from interviews and review of existing literature, symbolic interactionism and Social Worlds/Arenas theories are used to gain insight as to how impact can be conceptualized in terms of systemic shifts in social equilibria. The model proposes to capture the contested definitions of problems and their negotiation in social structures.

Grounded in sociological theory, the model brings a new theoretical approach to social impact assessment, one that provides a different view of social structures than existing models that are grounded in economic metrics. The proposed model, therefore, provides a new lens for the detailed assessment of the complex interactions between systems.

Knowledge management and relationship marketing are two significant management paradigms, but they emerge from distinct disciplinary traditions. Communication is at the heart of both paradigms, and concepts such as online communities, trust, knowledge sharing, loyalty and commitment are to be found in both literatures. Similarly, repositories of customer data or information can be used as a platform for processes associated with both relationships and knowledge. Uses brief reviews of the scope and processes of both knowledge management and relationship marketing to lead into an exploration of the interface between the two paradigms. Both relationship marketing and knowledge management recognise the value to be created through appropriate synergies of technology, people and process, but neither is a substitute for the other. Both knowledge and relationships are part of the extended product offering that the organisation uses in pursuit of market success.

In a world of rapid and continuing change it is imperative that organisations maximise their return on all assets. One of the least‐exploited assets is the knowledge that resides within the individuals and groups of the organisation. It is possible to create an organisation that has an appropriate culture and the internal systems and structure to realise the potential locked into these assets. This is what knowledge management attempts to do. Explains the basic concepts of knowledge management, and the underlying issues. Suggests a broad approach to creating a knowledge organisation.