‘People look at you like you’re mad if you say good things about academia’: Collective Negativity, Anti-neoliberalism, and Hostility to Institutions in UK Higher Education – The Dark Side of Solidarity?' by Jessica Wren Butler in (2024) 6(2) Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education 257-280 comments
Contemporary UK academia is riven with discontent: academics perform dissatisfaction on picket lines1 and social media, and higher education (HE) researchers internationally critique the so-called “neoliberal” university in which staff are over-worked, under-paid, over-managed, and under- valued. Record numbers report a desire to leave the sector, and, curiously for a profession often characterised by ideals of independence and freedom, academics position themselves as disempowered, ‘besieged’, and ‘under attack’.
While critics of modern academia point to a ‘competition fetish’instilled by recent developments in HE policy and argue that compared to a collegiate past the present climate of universities is one of ruthless individualism, this perception of atomisation sits uncomfortably alongside the collective eschewal of neoliberal and managerialist ideologies. If there is space for solidarity in academia, its common ground appears to be dissatisfaction, negativity, and vocal disavowal of contemporary trends.
This article considers the implications of such complaint, arguing that belief in the toxicity of neoliberal academia and a corresponding romanticised investment in a ‘golden age’ of HE have become required thinking for those wishing to be ‘part of the club’ (Participant 18).Drawing on interviews with academic staff in English higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2018 I demonstrate the ubiquity of a particular version of “critical thinking” as an idealised academic trait and suggest that, regardless of the legitimacy of the criticism, the need to visibly communicate disavowal of “the neoliberal academy”, particularly through hostility towards institutions and those who play managerial roles within them, risks perpetuating a joyless and exclusionary environment. While I do not wish to deny or defend many aspects of con- temporary academia, I do seek to complexify the conventional groupthink around this topic and suggest that the logical extension of certain arguments against supposedly “neoliberal” moves take us not towards a utopian future but a regressive past.
I begin with a brief description of the underpinning research before mov- ing to consider neoliberalism as a concept, evaluating its meaning and utility as context for my argument that academics’ anti-neoliberal critiques of HE may not be as productive as intended. I then briefly summarise what is meant by “the neoliberal university” in order to clarify the types of policies, processes, and practices deemed problematic. Finally, I suggest that valorisation of critical thinking results in a collective thought pattern around contemporary UK HE – namely that university management, as a metonym for the institution (and the wider construct of “the neoliberal university”), are suspect. I conclude that the prevalence of this belief and its normative status, especially when epitomised through group action such as union strikes, may promote solidarity between (some) academics, but at a cost. Every collective act also contains tensions, contradictions, and exclusions, which may go unexamined when the prevailing ideology is believed to be underpinned by the progressive and socially liberal ideals many participants saw as emblematic of academics’ politics.
