Emotional distance, detachment, compassion and care

The affective milieu of academic management in the neoliberal university

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3203885
AutoresJohanna Hokka (0000-0002-0238-244X, The Unit of Social Research, Tampere University, Finland, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen71
Número6
Páginas1322-1340
Fecha de publicación2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380261231189050
OpenAlexW4385782279
IdiomaIT
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas42

Based on interviews with Finnish deans, this study examines the affective milieu of academia. The neoliberalisation process in universities has strengthened centralised leadership and increased the power of managers. Simultaneously, the market-driven competitive ethos has deepened the binary between 'winners' and 'losers' at all levels of academia, giving rise to an affectively tense atmosphere. Due to their increased power, managers play a key role in shaping the affective milieu of academia. By using an affective-discursive approach, I analyse what kind of emotions deans rely on while constructing their relation to employees. This study traces three management discourses: strong, paternalistic and collegial. Together, these discourses with their affective orientations construct a polarised affective milieu. On the one hand, the deans' affective relationships with employees embody gentleness, care and compassion; on the other hand, affective relationships manifest the inducement of guilt, sternness, conventionality, distance and detachment of employees. I argue that current neoliberal academia leaves little space for deans to demonstrate compassionate collegial management

Compassion · Construct (python library) · Empathy · Ethos · Organizational culture · Paternalism · Political science · Power (physics) · Public relations · Sociology · Emotional Labor in Professions · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology