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Through a Glass Darkly: the Social Sciences Look at the Neoliberal

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Through a Glass Darkly: the Social Sciences Look at the Neoliberal Through a Glass Darkly The Social Sciences Look at the Neoliberal University Through a Glass Darkly The Social Sciences Look at the Neoliberal University Edited by Margaret Thornton In memory of Scott Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Thornton, Margaret, author. Title: Through a glass darkly : The social sciences look at the neoliberal university / Margaret Thornton. ISBN: 9781925022131 (paperback) 9781925022148 (ebook) Subjects: Education, Higher--Australia--Evaluation. Higher education and state--Australia. Education, Higher--Economic aspects--Australia. Social sciences--Study and teaching (Higher)--Australia. Educational change--Australia. Dewey Number: 378.94 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover image: Three Figures, 1971. Carlos Merida (1891-1984)/SOMAAP. Licensed by Viscopy, 2014. Credit: Private CollectionPhoto @ Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press First edition © 2014 ANU Press Contents Acknowledgements . xiii Contributors . xv Acronyms and Abbreviations . xxi Introduction: The Retreat from the Critical . 1 Margaret Thornton The neoliberal embrace . 2 Universities upside down . 4 Wrestling with the social . 7 The collection . 10 Part I: Theorising the modern university . 10 Part II: Markets, managers and mandarins . 11 Part III: Education for the ‘real world’ . 13 Part IV: Conditions of knowledge production . 14 Part V: Telling it how it is . 14 Part VI: University futures? . 15 Part I: Theorising the Modern University 1 . Disinterested Scholars or Interested Parties? The Public’s Investment in Self-interested Universities . 19 Hannah Forsyth Introduction . 19 Academic freedom and the idea of the university . 21 The public interest and the idea of the university . 27 The evolution of self-interested universities . 30 Conclusions . 35 2 . Critical Theory and the New University: Reflections on Time and Technology . 37 Peter Beilharz 3 . Gendered Hierarchies of Knowledge and the Prestige Factor: How Philosophy Survives Market Rationality . 49 Fiona Jenkins Philosophy and the market . 50 Market mechanisms and global values . 55 Gender equality in the orbit of ‘excellence’ . 58 Part II: Markets, Managers and Mandarins 4 . What’s to be Explained? And is it so Bad? . 65 Geoffrey Brennan Getting the diagnosis right . 65 What’s the market got to do with it? . 66 What is to be explained? . 68 A modified institutional analysis . 69 Questions of motivation . 69 Extending the institutional array . 72 The modern Australian university? The issue of scale . 74 5 . Higher Education ‘Markets’ and University Governance . 79 Tony Aspromourgos Academic markets and competition . 80 Research key performance indicators . 84 Managerialism and academic ethics . 86 Some concluding thoughts . 87 6 . Transforming the Public University: Market Citizenship and Higher Education Regulatory Projects . 89 Kanishka Jayasuriya Introduction . 89 The changing mission of the public university, state projects, and citizenship . 91 Higher education regulatory state and the making of market citizenship . 96 Conclusion . 102 7 . The State of the Universities . 103 Glenn Withers History . 103 Modern Australian tertiary education . 104 Tertiary education reform in Australia . 106 Policy implementation . 107 The role of universities . 109 Future response by universities . 111 Conclusion . 116 Part III: Education for the ‘Real World’ 8 . The Modern University and its Transaction with Students . 121 Nigel Palmer The modern university . 121 Markets . 122 Ubiquitous markets . 123 Markets capitalist, free and pure . 123 Quasi-markets . 125 Resisting ‘the market’ . 126 The university–student transaction . 127 Adequate information on quality . 128 The content of the university–student transaction . 129 Knowledge . 130 The student experience . 131 Reputation and brand . 133 State and non-state rankings . 134 Resisting marketisation . 136 Managerialism and quality . 136 Conclusion . 138 9 . Markets, Discipline, Students: Governing Student Conduct and Performance in the University . 141 Bruce Lindsay Introduction . 141 Market(s), discipline and governance . 142 The student . 145 The regulatory system for student discipline and academic exclusion . 148 Student discipline and misconduct . 150 Academic progress . 151 The evolution of purposes for regulatory controls over student conduct and performance . 153 Confidence in the supply chain of cognitive capital . 153 Response to motivational crisis . 154 Managing permanent crisis and selective austerity . 155 Conclusions . 155 10 . ‘Selling the dream’: Law School Branding and the Illusion of Choice . 157 Margaret Thornton and Lucinda Shannon Introduction . 157 Competition policy . 159 The standardising imperative . 160 Marketing and the illusion of choice . 161 Branding and the aesthetic of work . 162 Websites . 164 Legal education and the ‘golden ticket’ to employment . 165 The commercial focus . 166 Skills, experiential learning and the ‘real’ world . 167 Links with the profession and beyond . 169 Internationalising the curriculum, internationalising the appeal . 170 Critique . 173 Conclusion . 175 Part IV: Conditions of Knowledge Production 11 . Disciplining Academic Women: Gender Restructuring and the Labour of Research in Entrepreneurial Universities . 179 Jill Blackmore Research, quality and the global market . 182 Gendering academic labour . 183 Institutional differentiation and branding . 185 Leading research: Normative science and the unbundling of academic labour . 185 Implications for women as research leaders . 188 Managing research and the gender division of labour . 190 Reconfiguration of the academic workforce: Diversification, de-professionalisation and casualisation . 191 The next generation? . 192 Conclusion . 193 12 . Functional Dystopia: Diversity, Contestability and New Media in the Academy . 195 Jenny Corbett, Andrew MacIntyre and Inger Mewburn Introduction . 195 The myth of the golden age . 197 Funding and freedom . 200 Marketisation and technology . 205 Conclusions . 207 Part V: Telling It How It Is 13 . A Design for Learning? A Case Study of the Hidden Costs of Curriculum and Organisational Change . 211 Diane Kirkby and Kerreen Reiger Universities under fire . 212 Making invisible work count: Trust, emotional labour, and leadership . 213 The La Trobe University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHUSS) Organisational Implementation Strategy (OCIS) . 217 Exploring the impact of the OCIS . 219 Identifying gender dynamics at work . 220 Processes and leadership issues . 222 Grief, loss and suppression of dissent . 224 Conclusions . 226 14 . ‘Smoking Guns’: Reflections on Truth and Politics in the University . 229 Judith Bessant Introduction . 229 Background . 230 Events leading to the judgment . 231 The judgment . 233 Ticking all the boxes (2004–2009) . 236 Bad times begin … . 237 The Hayward memorandum 18 March 2010 . 241 Seeking assistance from the VC and WorkSafe . 243 Secret surveillance and smoking guns . 244 Notice of dispute: Issues Resolution Committee and the agreement . 246 More secret business: Changing my title, restricting my work and salary relocation . 248 Employment terminated: July 2011–April 2012 . 249 Redundancy Review Committee (November 2011) . 249 The trial begins . 252 In lieu of a conclusion . 252 Part VI: University Futures? 15 . Seeking the Necessary ‘Resources of Hope’ in the Neoliberal University . 259 Jane Kenway, Rebecca Boden and Johannah Fahey Beyond dirges of despair: A biographical introduction . 259 The cold embrace of the neoliberal university . 262 Hope and ‘structures of feeling’ in the hope-less university . 265 Resources of hope . 268 Spaces of hope . 269 Intergenerational hope . 269 Figures of hope . 271 Hope-full student activism . 274 Hope as collective action and civic courage . 277 Hoping with others . 279 Images of hope . 280 Concluding thoughts … . ..
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