Resisting Neoliberalism in Higher Education Volume II

Abstract

Aims of the Palgrave Critical University Studies SeriesUniversities everywhere are experiencing unprecedented changes and most of the changes being inflicted upon universities are being imposed by political and policy elites without any debate or discussion, and with little understanding of what is being lost, jettisoned, damaged or destroyed. The over-arching intent of this series is to foster, encourage, and publish scholarship relating to academia that is troubled by the direction of these reforms occurring around the world. The series provides a much-needed forum for the intensive and extensive discussion of the consequences of ill-conceived and inappropriate university reforms and will do this with particular emphasis on those perspectives and groups whose views have hitherto been ignored, disparaged or silenced. The series explores these changes across a number of domains including: the deleterious effects on academic work, the impact on student learning, the distortion of academic leadership, and the perversion of institutional politics. Above all, the series encourages critically informed debate, where this is being expunged or closed down in universities.

Academic Women’s Experiences in Higher Education: Navigations, Negotiations and Relationships on Contested Ground

“…They saw the structures and academic elite of their workplaces as creating and maintaining a status quo for their own benefit. In this regard, the status quo was an important mechanism through which the hierarchies of power were maintained (Manathunga & Bottrell, 2019). Competition between workers has been one of the ways the status quo is perpetuated, ensuring uniformity in the structures of the organisations.…”

“…Using a parent-child narrative to describe academics' relationships with the institution, she contended, that the great parent is the university industrial complex, which has unfolded a wretched instrumentalizing nightmare of marketization and accountability schemes meant to ensure that higher education fulfils its role as a roaring economic engine and military aegis of the capitalist class. (p. v) Connell (2019) contended that the neoliberal institution was "like a prison" (p. v) denoting an all-pervasive controlling presence that reaches for its academic 'inmates'. This unflattering description of academic institutions highlights how keenly the pain of existing in these spaces can be felt: that was reflected in the experiences of women in my study.…”

“…This approach has academic management moving to "more corporate and distanced forms of governance" (p. 8). Manathunga and Bottrell (2019) describe neoliberalism, as, "a whatever it takes' authoritarianism". They noted that it is widespread, although not all academics "experience the same levels of surveillance and some positions may be more buffered from brutal managerialism" (p.6).…”

“…While none of the women in my study used the term 'neoliberalism' to describe their struggles, they did highlight its effects in the competitiveness, busyness and bullying that characterised many of their workplaces. Overall, the women saw these neoliberal institutions and influences as difficult to challenge, and literature supported this difficulty (Brower & James, 2020;Manathunga & Botterell, 2019;Connell, 2019). Literature also acknowledged that the academy has failed to change the situation for academic women, and this is even more the case for Māori and Pacific women in Aotearoa New…”

“…They cited pervasive research culture and the focus on neoliberal accountability systems and the audit culture as unhelpful to the addressing of gendered inequalities, as that culture focused on outputs and business practices. Manathunga and Bottrell (2019) explored the development of institutional structures, in particular neoliberal management systems, decision-making and processes. This approach aligns with business practices.…”