Search results for: "academic labour"

Academic Labour and the Capitalist University: A critique of higher education through the law of value

I passed my PhD viva yesterday. Below, is the Introduction to the Commentary, which I was required to defend along with the publications. The entire ‘thesis’ is available to download from the University of Lincoln’s institutional repository. Thank you to my examiners, Siân Adiseshiah, Joyce Canaan and Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, and to the viva Chair, Alec Shepley. Most of all, thank you to my … Continue reading “Academic Labour and the Capitalist University: A critique of higher education through the law of value”

Open education and the emancipation of academic labour

I have previously argued that open education is a liberal project with a focus on the freedom of things rather than the freedom of people (Winn, Joss. 2012. “Open Education: From the Freedom of Things to the Freedom of People.” In Towards Teaching in Public: Reshaping the Modern University, edited by Michael Neary, Howard Stevenson, … Continue reading “Open education and the emancipation of academic labour”

Writing About Academic Labour

This essay calls for a return to the labour theory of Marx, or rather to Marx’s negative critique of labour and its “pivotal” role in comprehending the political economy of higher education. It argues that a critique of capitalism and its apparent complexity must be undertaken through an immanent critique of labour, rather than from the standpoint of labour as has … Continue reading “Writing About Academic Labour”

Student debt linked to the value of academic labour?

Andrew McGettigan has posted a useful analysis of the government’s ‘plans’ for financing higher education. What struck me was his last remark: “In immediate policy terms, OBR assumes that tuition fees will rise with inflation from 2016-17, and then in line with earnings from 2019-20. As they have emphasised in previous years, without the link … Continue reading “Student debt linked to the value of academic labour?”

Academic labour, students as consumers and the value form

Engels: “the philistine is not accustomed to this sort of abstract thought and certainly will not cudgel his brains for the sake of the form of value.” (Marx and Engels Collected Works, 1987, vol. 42, p.381) Marx: “As to the development of the value-form I have and have not followed your advice, in order to … Continue reading “Academic labour, students as consumers and the value form”

Writing about academic labour

Some of these notes were eventually turned into a journal article for Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labour. “The subjectivity currently produced by academic labour warrants investigation.” (Moten and Harney, 1998: 155) “In fact, the subjectivity produced by this particular production process cries out for investigation.” (ibid: 157) Real abstraction I am writing a paper … Continue reading “Writing about academic labour”

Digital labour, academic labour and Karl Marx

Below are some initial notes on Christian Fuchs’ book, Digital Labour and Karl Marx (2014). I think it was published about six weeks ago and as far as I can see, has yet to receive any substantive reviews. Don’t take this as a review either, it’s just a first pass at working through the book … Continue reading “Digital labour, academic labour and Karl Marx”

A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy of Academic Labour

The following paper abstract has been accepted for the Academic Identities conference 2014. I will be co-presenting with Prof. Richard Hall (De Montfort). In this paper we analyse ‘academic labour’ using categories developed by Marx in his critique of political economy. In doing so, we return to Marx to help understand the work of academics … Continue reading “A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy of Academic Labour”

Hacking in the University: Contesting the Valorisation of Academic Labour

In this article I argue for a different way of understanding the emergence of hacker culture. In doing so, I outline an account of ‘the university’ as an institution that provided the material and subsequent intellectual conditions that early hackers were drawn to and in which they worked. I argue that hacking was originally a … Continue reading “Hacking in the University: Contesting the Valorisation of Academic Labour”