Academics, Cultural Workers and Critical Labour Studies

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link AbstractThe aim of this paper is to locate academics within the sights of critical labour studies, and, in particular, the contemporary interest in cultural workers. Despite a growing literature about -and in response to -the transformation of the University there have been few attempts to study academics as workers. This paper argues that there are a number of parallels between academic work and the much more well-documented experiences of work in the cultural and creative industries. The paper examines the increasing experience of precariousness among academics, the intensification and extensification of work, and the new modes of surveillance in the academy and their affective impacts. The aim of the article is to build on the critical lexicon of studies of cultural labour in order to think about academic work as labour and to generate new ways of thinking about power, privilege and exploitation. It argues for the need for a psychosocial perspective that can understand the new labouring subjectivities in academia.

‘Facebook for Academics’: The Convergence of Self-Branding and Social Media Logic on Academia.edu

“…The U.K. has seen similar shifts unfurl in the wake of austerity politics (Gill, 2014). Media coverage of the precarious, itinerant nature of work in the academy has undoubtedly challenged long-held assumptions about the cushy career of the college professor; today's Ph.Ds, the news reminds us, may be receiving welfare assistance (Kavoussi, 2012).…”

“…It is curious, then, that scholars have overlooked, until very recently, the striking similarities between cultural labor and academic work (Brienza, 2015;Gill, 2014;Luka et al, 2015). That recent attention to the parallels of academic and cultural-work, perhaps unsurprisingly, has come from scholars of the creative industries.…”

“…With dwindling financial support for higher education, he expressed concern that the university system was shifting in profoundly troubling ways: curricula were undergoing a "vocationalization," research projects were being wrought by the interests of corporate funders, the number of administrators was ballooning, and faculty layoffs were rampant. Over the last two decades, the features Aronowitz highlighted have become more pervasive, compounded by the rise of for-profit universities and the venture-backed ed-tech industry (see, for instance, Readings, 1996;Ross, 2010;Schrecker, 2010;Dyer-Witheford, 2005;Gill, 2014;Watters, 2014). College and university administrators have also begun to think seriously about their own branding efforts (Wernick, 1991;Hearn, 2013;Einstein, 2015).…”

“…That recent attention to the parallels of academic and cultural-work, perhaps unsurprisingly, has come from scholars of the creative industries. Gill (2014), commenting on the neglect, pointed to "a marked reluctance [among academics] to examine our own labour processes, organisational governance and conditions of production," related to precariousness, time pressure and surveillance (p. 12).…”

(Un)bearable freedom : Exploring the becoming of the artist in education, work and family life

“…Worryingly, I myself, as a Ph.D. student, have often reflected on the striking similarities between the art world and the academic world (c.f. Gill, 2013: Peixoto, 2014). …”