The now deceased Tony Becher was a true scholar: rigorous, wide ranging, subtle and creative. His first edition of Academic Tribes in the late 1980s became necessary reading for anyone seriously interested in higher education and research. Although his wasn't the first attempt to study the academic disciplines as "cultural worlds", it is certainly the most complete. He examines disciplines as an anthropologist would look at "tribes", with their own symbols, language, forms of interaction, myths and heroes. He is always careful and precise in his appraisals but very innovative in his perspective.
The 2001 edition with Trowley is a welcome update that incorporates changes in higher education policy worldwide, although especially in Europe. This book is now ten years old but it continues to be an important work of serious research.