The Expansion of Mathematics as a Discipline and an Occupational Field: Progress in Quantitative Modeling in Different Sectors of Society

Abstract

In this chapter, the interplay between the development of the discipline, the development of the field of study, and the emergence of professional fields is examined using the example of mathematics. In connection with the formation of the modern research university, mathematics has emerged as an independent scientific discipline and as an independent field of study. In the process, mathematics attains a high degree of formalization and internal coherence. This is the basis for the penetration of mathematicians into more and more professional fields, even outside science. Real problems or real facts are reduced to aspects that are amenable to mathematical modeling by treating them as quantifiable parameters. As mathematics expands as a field of study, more and more professional sectors become applications of mathematical models. As a consequence, more mathematical fields of study are differentiating themselves, specializing in these application fields. This chapter analyzes this dynamic and its preconditions.

Citation

Lathan, M. and Stock, M. (2023), "The Expansion of Mathematics as a Discipline and an Occupational Field: Progress in Quantitative Modeling in Different Sectors of Society", Stock, M., Mitterle, A. and Baker, D.P. (Ed.) How Universities Transform Occupations and Work in the 21st Century: The Academization of German and American Economies (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 47), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 163-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920230000047008