Second Review - First Draft

Review

Breaking the Silence:  The Hidden Injuries of the Neoliberal University by Rosalind Gill

In this article, the author states that changes caused by the neoliberal practices and policies applied to higher education over the last couple of decades have had a profound effect on the lives of people that work in modern universities.  Privately, academics report high levels of stress, lower job satisfaction and feelings of worthlessness and insecurity that are the product of an increasingly complex and over competitive working environment.  At the moment these issues are not openly talked about which is why Gill has given the title “Breaking the Silence” to this text.

She begins by examining four sets of theoretical references that are the source for her analysis:

• Literature about the transformation of work
• Literature about the structural transformations in Higher Education
• Literature that has to do with micro politics of power in academia, with a  particularly feminist orientation
• Foucaltian inspired writing about neoliberalism

Something interesting that Rosalind Gill does when she establishes this theoretical framework is to relate it to the everyday experience of academic workers; she makes clear why the body of work she is examining is relevant to this discussion.

Next, she introduces a key concept: “precariousness”.  Hiring workers by means of temporary contracts has been the norm for decades in most economic sectors but it has entered universities rather recently.  Statistics prove that most academics work under these kinds of schemes and instead of being a path towards tenure it has become a career – long situation.  There are many causes for this state of things (Public Policies regarding Higher Education, complicity by better established staff or lack of collective action) but analyzing how this kind of job insecurity is experienced by individuals and the cost it has for them is instrumental to understanding what is going on.

These changing job conditions are combined with both the intensification and the extensification of work.  The former is the idea that, given diminished budgets and staff, everyone has to work harder and do more with less.  The latter is the fact that, because of new technologies, work isn’t restricted to a specific time and space.  These two factors impose a heavy burden on everybody that works in academia. A high price is paid by academics for this sort of pressure but, since it is experienced individually, no collective action is taken.

The reason for this lack of response can be attributed to the ethos of academia, its members are supposed to be self-disciplined, self – driven and self – motivated. Thus, failure is perceived as something personal, it is the fault of each individual because everybody is supposed to rise above their own circumstances regardless of how difficult or beyond personal control they are.  The result is that difficulties are swept under the rug and not discussed out of shame.

This increasing workload gives origin to the final issue that is covered by this article:  the diminishing civility of academic discourse.  Under the new conditions people experience a lack of power and they compensate for it when they have the opportunity to review somebody else’s work.  The worrying aspect of this question is the way people internalize negative criticism and the effect it has on the working environment and the intellectual exchange between members of the academic community.

In general terms, the main purpose of this text is to open a conversation about the fact that the structural changes that took place in academia because of neoliberalism disrupt the life of real people working there.  The author admits that her evidence is anecdotal, which is an aspect of the article that could be considered weak, but by introducing personal voices she helps to build her case and makes the reader connect with what she is saying.

However, I think that more research is needed and, more importantly, it should focus on how all these issues affect educational quality throughout society.  I feel that this is the real discussion that we are faced with.

In conclusion, addressing these topics in the first place is what makes this article so easy to understand and relate to.  Besides, it is very relevant for everyone who is a member of an academic community and is worried about what is happening right now in higher education although a lot more could and should be said.