Elizabeth Humphrys
Biographic Data
| ID | 251701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elizabeth Humphrys |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elizabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Humphrys |
| SIGNATURE | HUMPHRYS E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Technology Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0192-0426 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Disabled and academic: A collaborative autoethnography on ableism and cruel optimism within Australian higher education
Universities are celebrated as bastions of teaching, knowledge and research excellence, but they can pose risks to staff psychosocial safety and wellbeing. In Australia and elsewhere, we are increasingly told that universities ‘are in crisis’. But what does this crisis look like, particularly for those already sitting on its margins? In this collaborative autoethnography, we explore the experiences of those working in academia as lecturers and re…
New insights into global labour: Movement strategy and mobilisation in the context of crisis
The last decade and a half have seen labour movements organise amid overlapping crises – financial, epidemiological, geopolitical, ecological, and democratic – though their primary focus has always
Safe Bodies, Hot Plastic? Practical Issues in the Introduction of High-Visibility Workwear (Hi-Vis) in Australia, 1960s–80s
Fluorescent high-visibility workwear (‘hi-vis’) first appeared in Australia in the 1960s to improve worker safety. Despite its contemporary ubiquity, little is known about hi-vis’ emergence. This research, using archives, artefacts, and photographs, traces the early years of hi-vis in Australia. Initially introduced by public-service employers for high-risk users, adoption varied widely. Drawing on examples from roads and railways, the authors ex…
Inertia in transformed times: Work health and safety amid climate change
Climate change will impact work health and safety conditions at an unprecedented scale, and the effects are already being felt. The most significant consequences are for workers labouring in higher temperatures and heatwaves. Other dangers include increased air pollution, vector-borne diseases and solar ultraviolet radiation. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says climate change and WHS ‘needs to top our list of global priorities’, requ…
Ableism in higher education: The negation of crip temporalities within the neoliberal academy
Within Australian universities, neoliberalism has transformed education into a marketplace and product, where academic employees are regulated and controlled through metrics, productivity, and pressure to maintain and increase ‘value’. In this environment, disabled academics face increasing barriers to workplace participation and meaningful inclusion. To explore the lived experiences of disabled academics, this article draws upon qualitative surv…
Assessing the Accord and Labour's Role in Neoliberalism
Philanthropy and the "Management" of Working-Class Women: The West Gate Bridge Disaster
The West Gate Bridge collapse in 1970 is one of the worst industrial disasters in Australian history. Closely examined for the engineering lessons it provides, scholarly interest in its historical, social, and industrial import is far less extensive. This article examines the role of union leaders, employers, and a private welfare organisation called the Citizens Welfare Service (CWS) in the management of funds raised to support the victims and f…
Construction Workers in a Climate Precarious World
This paper examines climatic heat stress as a question of workplace health and safety in relation to at-risk and precarious labour. First, we argue that precarity is usefully understood as a phenomenon that is both generalised (all work is precarious given the function of labour under capitalism) and differentiated (experienced differently across geography, labour process and employment status). We frame climate change and labour relations as int…
How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project
Why do we always assume it was the New Right that was at the centre of constructing neoliberalism? How might corporatism have advanced neoliberalism? And, more controversially, were the trade unions only victims of neoliberal change, or did they play a more contradictory role? In How Labour Made Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Humphrys examines the role of the Labor Party and trade unions in constructing neoliberalism in Australia, and the implications …
Rethinking the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ thesis
Numerous scholars have identified the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ as the key driver of the neoliberal transformation. These accounts emphasize the building of neoliberal hegemony through the mobilization of this collective, and the New Right parties who aligned to these ideas. We argue that Australia's corporatist road to neoliberalism pushes against this thesis, as the movement found little sympathy among policy makers. Rather, the thought c…
How Labour Built Neoliberalism
Why do we always assume it was the New Right that was at the centre of constructing neoliberalism? How might corporatism have advanced neoliberalism? And, more controversially, were the trade unions only victims of neoliberal change, or did they play a more contradictory role? In How Labour Made Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Humphrys examines the role of the Labor Party and trade unions in constructing neoliberalism in Australia, and the implications …
Anti-politics, the early Marx and Gramsci's 'integral state
This article traces a line of theorisation regarding the state-civil society relationship, from Marx's early writings to Gramsci's conception of the integral state. The article argues that Marx developed, through his critique of Hegel, a valuable understanding of the state-civil society connection that emphasised the antagonism between them in capitalist societies. Alternatively, Gramsci's conception of the 'integral state' posits an interconnect…
On 'heroic fury' and questions of method in Antonio Gramsci
Simultaneously deepening corporatism and advancing neoliberalism: Australia under the Accord
Given recent calls for a new social contract between the unions and government, it is timely to consider the relationship of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) prices and incomes Accord (1983-97) to the construction of neoliberalism in Australia. Contrary to most scholarly accounts, which posit the ALP and ACTU prices and incomes Accord and neoliberalism as exogenously related or competing processes, th…
From economic rationalism to global neoliberalism? Marking 25 years since Economic Rationalism in Canberra
Despite the impact of global economic crises and, more recently, the international shockwave of populism, neoliberalism persists as a framework for policies, policymakers and social orders. In Australia, debate about neoliberalism was largely initiated by the publication of Economic Rationalism in Canberra in 1991. This special section of the Journal of Sociology has been compiled to mark the impact of this seminal text over the past quarter of a…
How Labour Made Neoliberalism
Critical explanations of neoliberalism regularly adhere to a dominant narrative as to the form and implementation of the neoliberal policy revolution, positing neoliberalism in its vanguard period as a project implemented by governments of the New Right, imposed coercively on civil society by state elites and only subsequently adopted by social democratic parties. In such accounts, labour is typically posited as the object and victim of neolibera…
Global Justice Organising in Australia: Crisis and Realignment after 9/11
The ‘s11’ protest in Melbourne in 2000 saw 20,000 demonstrators successfully blockade the Asia-Pacific Summit of the World Economic Forum and led to the cohering of the Global Justice Movement (GJM) in Australia. The 9/11 attacks, a year later to the day, halted that momentum and seemingly caused movement crisis and retreat. While some accounts, such as the Wall Street Journal's editorial ‘Adieu Seattle?’, argued the ‘global security crisis’ trum…
Beyond the Neo-Con Men - a series of dialogues: Organization, Cross-Cultural Collaboration, Rights Framing, Visions for Social and Political Change
Beyond the Neo-Con Men -a Series of DialoguesAt the end of 2007 one of Australia's most successful conservative governments was defeated at the polls.The defeat of the John Howard was followed by the demise of his ally in the United States, George W Bush, seemingly signalling the end of an era
Thinking and theorising about activism: Who and How
This article overviews the following three articles in the journal, which arise from the 2008 conference Other Worlds 2: After the Neo-Con Men. The article responds to an issue raised across the papers regarding social movement knowledge and theory: what is the tension between analysis produced inside the academy and that which arises from within movements. And how can theory can be developed in a way that both takes into account the viewpoint an…
How Labour Made Neoliberalism
Critical explanations of neoliberalism regularly adhere to a dominant narrative as to the form and implementation of the neoliberal policy revolution, positing neoliberalism in its vanguard period as a project implemented by governments of the New Right, imposed coercively on civil society by state elites and only subsequently adopted by social democratic parties. In such accounts, labour is typically posited as the object and victim of neolibera…
Anti-politics, the early Marx and Gramsci's 'integral state
This article traces a line of theorisation regarding the state-civil society relationship, from Marx's early writings to Gramsci's conception of the integral state. The article argues that Marx developed, through his critique of Hegel, a valuable understanding of the state-civil society connection that emphasised the antagonism between them in capitalist societies. Alternatively, Gramsci's conception of the 'integral state' posits an interconnect…
Construction Workers in a Climate Precarious World
This paper examines climatic heat stress as a question of workplace health and safety in relation to at-risk and precarious labour. First, we argue that precarity is usefully understood as a phenomenon that is both generalised (all work is precarious given the function of labour under capitalism) and differentiated (experienced differently across geography, labour process and employment status). We frame climate change and labour relations as int…
Simultaneously deepening corporatism and advancing neoliberalism: Australia under the Accord
Given recent calls for a new social contract between the unions and government, it is timely to consider the relationship of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) prices and incomes Accord (1983-97) to the construction of neoliberalism in Australia. Contrary to most scholarly accounts, which posit the ALP and ACTU prices and incomes Accord and neoliberalism as exogenously related or competing processes, th…
Assessing the Accord and Labour's Role in Neoliberalism
Rethinking the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ thesis
Numerous scholars have identified the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ as the key driver of the neoliberal transformation. These accounts emphasize the building of neoliberal hegemony through the mobilization of this collective, and the New Right parties who aligned to these ideas. We argue that Australia's corporatist road to neoliberalism pushes against this thesis, as the movement found little sympathy among policy makers. Rather, the thought c…
From economic rationalism to global neoliberalism? Marking 25 years since Economic Rationalism in Canberra
Despite the impact of global economic crises and, more recently, the international shockwave of populism, neoliberalism persists as a framework for policies, policymakers and social orders. In Australia, debate about neoliberalism was largely initiated by the publication of Economic Rationalism in Canberra in 1991. This special section of the Journal of Sociology has been compiled to mark the impact of this seminal text over the past quarter of a…
Beyond the Neo-Con Men - a series of dialogues: Organization, Cross-Cultural Collaboration, Rights Framing, Visions for Social and Political Change
Beyond the Neo-Con Men -a Series of DialoguesAt the end of 2007 one of Australia's most successful conservative governments was defeated at the polls.The defeat of the John Howard was followed by the demise of his ally in the United States, George W Bush, seemingly signalling the end of an era
Thinking and theorising about activism: Who and How
This article overviews the following three articles in the journal, which arise from the 2008 conference Other Worlds 2: After the Neo-Con Men. The article responds to an issue raised across the papers regarding social movement knowledge and theory: what is the tension between analysis produced inside the academy and that which arises from within movements. And how can theory can be developed in a way that both takes into account the viewpoint an…
Global Justice Organising in Australia: Crisis and Realignment after 9/11
The ‘s11’ protest in Melbourne in 2000 saw 20,000 demonstrators successfully blockade the Asia-Pacific Summit of the World Economic Forum and led to the cohering of the Global Justice Movement (GJM) in Australia. The 9/11 attacks, a year later to the day, halted that momentum and seemingly caused movement crisis and retreat. While some accounts, such as the Wall Street Journal's editorial ‘Adieu Seattle?’, argued the ‘global security crisis’ trum…
How Labour Made Neoliberalism
Critical explanations of neoliberalism regularly adhere to a dominant narrative as to the form and implementation of the neoliberal policy revolution, positing neoliberalism in its vanguard period as a project implemented by governments of the New Right, imposed coercively on civil society by state elites and only subsequently adopted by social democratic parties. In such accounts, labour is typically posited as the object and victim of neolibera…
How Labour Built Neoliberalism
Why do we always assume it was the New Right that was at the centre of constructing neoliberalism? How might corporatism have advanced neoliberalism? And, more controversially, were the trade unions only victims of neoliberal change, or did they play a more contradictory role? In How Labour Made Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Humphrys examines the role of the Labor Party and trade unions in constructing neoliberalism in Australia, and the implications …
Anti-politics, the early Marx and Gramsci's 'integral state
This article traces a line of theorisation regarding the state-civil society relationship, from Marx's early writings to Gramsci's conception of the integral state. The article argues that Marx developed, through his critique of Hegel, a valuable understanding of the state-civil society connection that emphasised the antagonism between them in capitalist societies. Alternatively, Gramsci's conception of the 'integral state' posits an interconnect…
On 'heroic fury' and questions of method in Antonio Gramsci
Simultaneously deepening corporatism and advancing neoliberalism: Australia under the Accord
Given recent calls for a new social contract between the unions and government, it is timely to consider the relationship of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) prices and incomes Accord (1983-97) to the construction of neoliberalism in Australia. Contrary to most scholarly accounts, which posit the ALP and ACTU prices and incomes Accord and neoliberalism as exogenously related or competing processes, th…
From economic rationalism to global neoliberalism? Marking 25 years since Economic Rationalism in Canberra
Despite the impact of global economic crises and, more recently, the international shockwave of populism, neoliberalism persists as a framework for policies, policymakers and social orders. In Australia, debate about neoliberalism was largely initiated by the publication of Economic Rationalism in Canberra in 1991. This special section of the Journal of Sociology has been compiled to mark the impact of this seminal text over the past quarter of a…
How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project
Why do we always assume it was the New Right that was at the centre of constructing neoliberalism? How might corporatism have advanced neoliberalism? And, more controversially, were the trade unions only victims of neoliberal change, or did they play a more contradictory role? In How Labour Made Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Humphrys examines the role of the Labor Party and trade unions in constructing neoliberalism in Australia, and the implications …
Rethinking the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ thesis
Numerous scholars have identified the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ as the key driver of the neoliberal transformation. These accounts emphasize the building of neoliberal hegemony through the mobilization of this collective, and the New Right parties who aligned to these ideas. We argue that Australia's corporatist road to neoliberalism pushes against this thesis, as the movement found little sympathy among policy makers. Rather, the thought c…
Assessing the Accord and Labour's Role in Neoliberalism
Philanthropy and the "Management" of Working-Class Women: The West Gate Bridge Disaster
The West Gate Bridge collapse in 1970 is one of the worst industrial disasters in Australian history. Closely examined for the engineering lessons it provides, scholarly interest in its historical, social, and industrial import is far less extensive. This article examines the role of union leaders, employers, and a private welfare organisation called the Citizens Welfare Service (CWS) in the management of funds raised to support the victims and f…
Construction Workers in a Climate Precarious World
This paper examines climatic heat stress as a question of workplace health and safety in relation to at-risk and precarious labour. First, we argue that precarity is usefully understood as a phenomenon that is both generalised (all work is precarious given the function of labour under capitalism) and differentiated (experienced differently across geography, labour process and employment status). We frame climate change and labour relations as int…
Ableism in higher education: The negation of crip temporalities within the neoliberal academy
Within Australian universities, neoliberalism has transformed education into a marketplace and product, where academic employees are regulated and controlled through metrics, productivity, and pressure to maintain and increase ‘value’. In this environment, disabled academics face increasing barriers to workplace participation and meaningful inclusion. To explore the lived experiences of disabled academics, this article draws upon qualitative surv…
Inertia in transformed times: Work health and safety amid climate change
Climate change will impact work health and safety conditions at an unprecedented scale, and the effects are already being felt. The most significant consequences are for workers labouring in higher temperatures and heatwaves. Other dangers include increased air pollution, vector-borne diseases and solar ultraviolet radiation. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says climate change and WHS ‘needs to top our list of global priorities’, requ…
Disabled and academic: A collaborative autoethnography on ableism and cruel optimism within Australian higher education
Universities are celebrated as bastions of teaching, knowledge and research excellence, but they can pose risks to staff psychosocial safety and wellbeing. In Australia and elsewhere, we are increasingly told that universities ‘are in crisis’. But what does this crisis look like, particularly for those already sitting on its margins? In this collaborative autoethnography, we explore the experiences of those working in academia as lecturers and re…
New insights into global labour: Movement strategy and mobilisation in the context of crisis
The last decade and a half have seen labour movements organise amid overlapping crises – financial, epidemiological, geopolitical, ecological, and democratic – though their primary focus has always
Safe Bodies, Hot Plastic? Practical Issues in the Introduction of High-Visibility Workwear (Hi-Vis) in Australia, 1960s–80s
Fluorescent high-visibility workwear (‘hi-vis’) first appeared in Australia in the 1960s to improve worker safety. Despite its contemporary ubiquity, little is known about hi-vis’ emergence. This research, using archives, artefacts, and photographs, traces the early years of hi-vis in Australia. Initially introduced by public-service employers for high-risk users, adoption varied widely. Drawing on examples from roads and railways, the authors ex…
Sociology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (9 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (7 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Political and Economic history of UK and US (6 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (5 works) · Social science (5 works)