The Social Production of Knowledge in a Neoliberal Age

Justin Cruickshank; Ross Abbinnett

doi:10.5771/9781538161418

Summary

Higher education exposes a key paradox of neoliberalism. The project of neoliberalism was said to be that of rolling back the state to liberate individuals, by replacing government bureaucracy with the free market. Rather than have the market serve individuals however, individuals were to serve the market. The marketisation ‘reforms’ in higher education, which sought to reshape knowledge production, with students investing in human capital and academics producing ‘transferable’ research, to make higher education of use to the economy, has resulted in extensive government bureaucracy and oppressive managerialist bureaucracy which is inefficient and expensive. Neoliberalism has always had authoritarian aspects and these are now coming to bear on universities. The state does not want critical and informed graduate citizens, but a hollowed out public sphere defined by consumption, willing servitude to the market and deference to state power. Attempts to reshape universities with bureaucracy are now accompanied by a culture war, attacking the production of critical knowledge. The authors in this book explore these issues and the possibilities for resistance and progressive change.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-5381-6140-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-5381-6141-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 404
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgements No access
3. 1. Knowledge and Neoliberalism No access
  2. Overview of the Chapters No access
  3. References No access
1. 1. References No access
2. 1. Trumpist Ethnoracial Politics – Fearing, Loathing, and Lying No access
  2. Trump’s Other Side: Neoliberal ‘Adventure Capitalist’ No access
  3. The ‘Double Movement’ – Neoliberal De-democratization and Trumpism No access
  4. The Return of the Political and Alternatives: Democracy or Barbarism No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. References No access
3. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Academic Labour No access
  3. Authoritarian HE in the Global North No access
  4. An Emergent Appreciation of More Humane Knowledge No access
  5. Dismantling Knowledge Production in HE No access
  6. References No access
4. Engagements No access
5. 1. The ‘Essence’ of Radical Subjectivism in Economics No access
  2. Radical Subjectivism and Markets as an Entrepreneurial Driven Process No access
  3. Radical Subjectivism in ‘Political Markets’ No access
  4. Neoliberal Conservatism No access
  5. Unless Departing from Neoliberalism . . . No access
  6. References No access
6. 1. Professorial Politics: Evidence from Surveys and Interviews No access
  2. Why We Have an Exaggerated Impression of Professorial Leftism No access
  3. The Making of ‘Liberal Bias’ No access
  4. A Regulated Marketplace of Ideas No access
  5. The Problem of Oppositional Epistemology No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. References No access
7. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Judicial Power as Epistemic No access
  3. Treating Misinformation No access
  4. Public Trust and Intellectual Integrity No access
  5. References No access
8. 1. The Tower of Learning No access
  2. References No access
9. 1. References No access
1. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Technology and Globalization No access
  3. The Virtual History of the Anthropocene No access
  4. Neoliberalism, Reflexivity, and Ecology No access
  5. Conclusion: Politics and the End of the World No access
  6. References No access
2. 1. Introduction No access
  2. The Rise of Public Higher Education No access
  3. From Audit to Marketization No access
  4. Digitalization and Commodification No access
  5. Precarity No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. References No access
3. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Enlightenment and Modernization No access
  3. Technology, Work, and Trade Unions No access
  4. Managerial Epistemology No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. References No access
4. Engagements No access
5. 1. Open-Access Mandates No access
  2. Problems of Access No access
  3. Current Damage and Potential Dangers No access
  4. References No access
6. 1. Introduction No access
  2. The Knowledge Economy as Multi-Scalar Imaginary No access
  3. Academic Labour and Precarity in Portugal No access
  4. Conclusions No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. References No access
7. 1. References No access
1. 1. Introduction: Neoliberalism and the Ambiguity of Critique No access
  2. Social Position(ing) and the Production of Knowledge No access
  3. Neoliberalism as Epistemic Subject No access
  4. Neoliberalism as Epistemic Object No access
  5. From Subject to Object No access
  6. From Knowledge to Action: Scholastic Fallacy Revisited No access
  7. Making Epistemology (More) Social No access
  8. Conclusions No access
  9. Note No access
  10. References No access
2. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Data Points (All) the Way No access
  3. Success as a Knowledge Economy: The Language of the TEF No access
  4. New Entrants to ‘The Market’ No access
  5. 1. Provider No access
    2. Excellence No access
    3. Choice No access
    4. Outcomes No access
    5. Investment No access
  6. Student as Consumer No access
  7. Metrics: The Future No access
  8. Conclusion: The Accident of Accessibility No access
  9. References No access
  10. Glossary of acronyms No access
3. 1. References No access
4. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Economic Freedom, Authoritarianism, and Technocracy No access
  3. Gadamer and Higher Education No access
  4. English Higher Education No access
  5. Contingency, Contradiction, and Control No access
  6. References No access
5. 1. Introduction No access
  2. Bureaucratic Developments No access
  3. Culture Wars No access
  4. Covid-191 No access
  5. Note No access
  6. References No access
6. Engagements No access
7. 1. Pariahs or Progressives? No access
  2. The Triad of Inaction No access
  3. Action? No access
  4. References No access
8. 1. Introduction No access
  2. The Neoliberal University and Its Managerial Class No access
  3. 1. First, Know Thy Product No access
    2. Second, Production Quality Matters No access
    3. Third, Without Sales There Is No Business No access
    4. Fourth, Competition No access
    5. Fifth, Division of Labour (Productivity) No access
  4. Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. References No access
9. 1. 1. 1. Outcomes and their Undeliverability No access
    2. 2. Invisibility of Wider Social Purposes No access
    3. 3. Fictive Persona of a Heroic Cadre of Detached Efficiency Management Experts No access
    4. 4. Absence of Internal Ethics No access
    5. 5. Unshakeable Belief That Everything is for Sale No access
  2. Conclusion No access
  3. References No access
10. 1. Transformative Learning No access
  2. Creating Brave Spaces No access
  3. References No access
Index No access Pages 375 - 396
About the Contributors No access Pages 397 - 404