Jane Austen and the Belly of the Beast Part 2 - Language and Power: Commodification, Technology and the Open Agenda in Higher Education

John Casey,Wolfgang Greller

doi:10.3390/isis-summit-vienna-2015-s3030

John Casey, Wolfgang Greller

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/isis-summit-vienna-2015-s3030

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Publication Date: Jun 30, 2015
Citations: 3	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: City of Glasgow College, Pädagogische Hochschule Wien

Abstract

This short paper discusses aspects of the interplay between ideology, technology, power and economics in the field of Higher Education, in the context of the crisis in neoliberalism. It continues a discussion begun in 2014 at the annual teaching and learning conference of Goldsmiths University, London. The title of the paper conveys the tensions between the perceived concepts and cultural forms of the university and the powerful forces changing our society the tensions between manners and economics that underlie much of Jane Austen's work. The ‘Belly of the Beast’ is a colloquialism describing incarceration in prison or, more generally, to be trapped in a bad situation with few positive options, it provides a suitable metaphor for the dilemmas facing academics in the neoliberal university described by Hall (1).

Highlights

The university sector has provided much of the 'intellectual soundtrack' for neoliberalism and until relatively recently, the social capital of its inhabitants had been sufficient to avoid its worst effects
The problem at the heart of this situation is that the traditional university model of education is based on an economic and educational philosophy of scarcity, which has remained unchanged
There is a growing culture of managerialism and intensification of labour to service much larger numbers of students with less staff. It is accompanied by a myopic shortterm focus on budgets, producing intense stress in staff [4] and a strategic vacuum that is filled by techno-hype

Summary

Extended Abstract

Jane Austen and the Belly of the Beast Part 2 – Language and Power: Commodification, Technology and the Open Agenda in Higher Education. Panel: ICT&S19 Critical/Radical Internet Studies, the University and Academia Today This short paper discusses aspects of the interplay between ideology, technology, power and economics in the field of Higher Education, in the context of the crisis in neoliberalism. This paper is part of a series of 'working sketches’, with the aim of identifying the forces and powers at work below the surface of higher educational establishments. We see this mapping activity as providing a useful foundation upon which to develop alternatives, inside and outside the university, that can overcome. 2 - Who Runs This Place? An overview and infographic representation that identifies the power structures at work and begins to map the political and economic interests in this space

Background

Who Runs This Place?

Summary