Racism, zero-hours contracts and complicity in higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) has been associated with the transfer of risk away from corporate employers and towards individual employees. In universities increasing numbers of teaching staff are employed on such contracts. Academics from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) are disproportionately more likely to be employed on ZHCs. This article draws on the accounts of 21 BME academics to explore their personal experiences of ZHCs. The research identified a broad range of inequalities fostered by a lack of collegiality on the part of permanently contracted colleagues that materialized at the local, departmental level. Using the concepts of ‘risk’, ’risk culture’ and ‘White habitus’, this article explores the extent to which race and racism are a feature of collective departmental strategies to manage risk.