Dark Academia: How Universities Die
"Fleming's books are sparklingly sardonic and hilariously angry"—Guardian
"An excellent and important book"—Journal of Education, Innovation, and Communication

To Professor Peter Fleming, there is a strong link between the neo-liberalization of higher education over the last 20 years and the psychological hell now endured by its staff and students. He believes that impersonal and unforgiving management hierarchies have supplanted academic judgement, collegiality, and professional common sense. He bemoans the modern system of higher education and shines a spotlight on what’s gone wrong and why.


While academia was once thought of as the best job in the world, one that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction, and vocational zeal, you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now.

Fleming delves into this new metrics-obsessed, overly hierarchical world to bring out the hidden underbelly of the neoliberal university. He examines:

*Commercialization
*Mental illness and self-harm
*The rise of managerialism
*Students as consumers and evaluators
*The competitive individualism which casts a dark sheen of alienation over departments
*And much more!


Arguing that time has almost run out to reverse this decline, this book shows how academics and students need to act now if they are to begin to fix this broken system.
1138639972
Dark Academia: How Universities Die
"Fleming's books are sparklingly sardonic and hilariously angry"—Guardian
"An excellent and important book"—Journal of Education, Innovation, and Communication

To Professor Peter Fleming, there is a strong link between the neo-liberalization of higher education over the last 20 years and the psychological hell now endured by its staff and students. He believes that impersonal and unforgiving management hierarchies have supplanted academic judgement, collegiality, and professional common sense. He bemoans the modern system of higher education and shines a spotlight on what’s gone wrong and why.


While academia was once thought of as the best job in the world, one that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction, and vocational zeal, you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now.

Fleming delves into this new metrics-obsessed, overly hierarchical world to bring out the hidden underbelly of the neoliberal university. He examines:

*Commercialization
*Mental illness and self-harm
*The rise of managerialism
*Students as consumers and evaluators
*The competitive individualism which casts a dark sheen of alienation over departments
*And much more!


Arguing that time has almost run out to reverse this decline, this book shows how academics and students need to act now if they are to begin to fix this broken system.
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Dark Academia: How Universities Die

Dark Academia: How Universities Die

by Peter Fleming
Dark Academia: How Universities Die

Dark Academia: How Universities Die

by Peter Fleming

Paperback

$22.95 
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Overview

"Fleming's books are sparklingly sardonic and hilariously angry"—Guardian
"An excellent and important book"—Journal of Education, Innovation, and Communication

To Professor Peter Fleming, there is a strong link between the neo-liberalization of higher education over the last 20 years and the psychological hell now endured by its staff and students. He believes that impersonal and unforgiving management hierarchies have supplanted academic judgement, collegiality, and professional common sense. He bemoans the modern system of higher education and shines a spotlight on what’s gone wrong and why.


While academia was once thought of as the best job in the world, one that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction, and vocational zeal, you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now.

Fleming delves into this new metrics-obsessed, overly hierarchical world to bring out the hidden underbelly of the neoliberal university. He examines:

*Commercialization
*Mental illness and self-harm
*The rise of managerialism
*Students as consumers and evaluators
*The competitive individualism which casts a dark sheen of alienation over departments
*And much more!


Arguing that time has almost run out to reverse this decline, this book shows how academics and students need to act now if they are to begin to fix this broken system.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780745341064
Publisher: Pluto Press
Publication date: 05/20/2021
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Peter Fleming is Professor of Organisation Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is the author of The Mythology of Work (Pluto, 2015) and The Death of Homo Economicus (Pluto, 2017).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Infinite Hope … But Not for Us
1. Dark Academia
2. La La Land
3. Welcome to the Edu-Factory
4. The Authoritarian Turn in Universities
5. You're Not a Spreadsheet With Hair
6. The Demise of Homo Academicus
7. High Impact …
8. The Academic Star-Complex
9. Student Hellscapes
10. How Universities Die
Conclusion: Are Some Lost Causes Truly Lost?
Notes
Index
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