Under attack

Responsibility, crisis and survival anxiety amongst manager-academics in UK universities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3360841
AutoresVik Loveday (0000-0001-7729-6717, Goldsmiths University of London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen69
Número5
Páginas903-919
Fecha de publicación2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0038026121999209
OpenAlexW3134726965
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas54

Based on a small-scale qualitative study, the article explores the perceptions of manager-academics on the state of the UK's higher education sector. Universities have been undergoing a process of marketisation for some time now, but recent changes to the regulation and audit of their activities - as well as uncertainty engendered by broader events - arguably make this a turbulent period for the sector. Despite a growing body of critical work on academic labour in the 'neoliberalising' university, the management of these institutions remains an under-researched subject. The article considers perceptions of crisis and responsibility amongst a group of manager-academics who conceive the sector as being 'under attack', before exploring the relationship of 'survival anxiety' to audit, metrics and rankings. The article concludes by considering why the perceptions of senior academic managers matter for the future of universities

Anxiety · Audit · Economics · Higher education · Management · Perception · Political science · Public relations · Scale (ratio) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Subject (documents) · Work (physics) · Engineering · Higher Education Governance and Development · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology