Abstract

The institutionalization of seven SSH disciplines in the Netherlands is analysed against the backdrop of two long-term processes. The first is the increasing centralization of policymaking regarding higher education. This had a substantial impact upon institutional diversity in the field of higher education, and gradually shifted the balance of power between the state and the academic field, which affected the SSH in particular. The second process concerns the increasing intellectual orientation towards the US. This has led to a cognitive convergence within a number of disciplines, especially economics and psychology, and a loss of national distinctiveness.