This thesis explores how academics navigate competing demandswithin the context of the entrepreneurial university. Drawing on PierreBourdieu’s field theory and concepts of capital, the study investigates thetensions between professional autonomy, institutional expectations, andentrepreneurial demands faced by faculty members at Linnaeus University.Through a qualitative, critical ethnographic approach and semi-structuredinterviews with academics from diverse disciplines, the research reveals howscholars strategically mobilize cultural, social, economic, and symbolic capitalto sustain legitimacy and autonomy. The findings highlight the emergence ofhybrid academic identities, the fluid interpretations of academicentrepreneurship, and the central role of networks in negotiating recognitionand institutional pressures