H. Willmott, MANAGING THE ACADEMICS - COMMODIFICATION AND CONTROL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY-EDUCATION IN THE UK, Human relations, 48(9), 1995, pp. 993-1027
The paper analyzes a number of major developments in higher education
in the U.K. during the past decade or so. It explores the connection b
etween changes in the organization and control of academic labor proce
sses (e.g., teaching, administration, and research) and pressures exer
ted by the dynamics of capitalist development to commodify and control
the work of academics. The first section considers the relevance of l
abor process analysis for understanding these changes. Attention is th
en paid to the historical development of academic work and, in particu
lar, to the role played by the University Grants Council in providing
academics with a significant measure of protection from commodifying p
ressures. In the remaining sections of the paper, the focus is upon ma
jor developments of the past decade or so: (i) the context, character
and impact of the 1981 cuts in university expenditure, (ii) the resear
ch selectivity exercises of 1986, 1989, and 1992, and (iii) the work o
f the CVCP's Academic Audit Unit. A central theme of the paper is that
the commodification of academic labor and the managerial control of a
cademic work results from politico-economic pressures to demonstrate t
hat funds are being directed in ways that are ostensibly congruent wit
h the commodifying logic and priorities of capitalism.