Changing Educational Landscapes: The Challenge of Academic Capitalism

Abstract

In looking at the issue of tenure, it is also important to address the changing nature of educational landscapes across the globe. We start therefore by acknowledging that the impact of the global, neo-liberal landscapes on higher education and more specifically on academic labour, have, and continue to be quite profound (Slaughter & Rhoades in Higher Education 26(3):287–312, 1993; Slaughter & Rhoades in Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state and higher education. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 2004; Slaughter & Leslie in Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1997; Slaughter & Leslie in Organization 8(2):154–161, 2001; Becher & Trowler in Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines. Open Press and the Society for Research into Higher Education, Buckingham, UK, 2001; Clarke in Neoliberalism: A critical reader. Pluto Press, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 50–59, 2005; Giroux in Teachers as intellectuals: Toward a critical pedagogy of learning. Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT, 1988; Giroux in Thought & Action 2006:63–78, 2006). We recognize specifically that neo-liberal ideologies and institutionalized practices have led to the commodification, internationalization of the new public management practices within the academic community, as well as the massification of higher education.