Academic Capitalism
Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University
Published on 5. August 1997
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-8018-5549-8 (ISBN)
Description
This study examines the changing nature of academic institutions caused by the globalization of the political economy at the end of the 20th century. Defining "academic capitalism" as institutional and professional market or market-like efforts to secure external monies, the authors describe how faculty and professional staff have become state-subsidized entrepreneurs, expending their human capital stocks increasingly in competitive situations. With a particular focus on public research universities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, the authors look at how faculty are spending their time, what forces are driving their choices of activities, and what this means for higher education. The text links the emergence of academic capitalism to the growth of global markets, national policies targeting faculty applied research, the decline of the block grant as a vehicle for state support for higher education, and the concomitant increase in faculty engagement with the market.
Reviews / Votes
Without even mentioning the dreaded and dated Marx, the authors have produced a convincing analysis of the transition of the academy from its own protected form of feudalism to a predatory capitalism . . . [including] long-term changes in the ethos, aims, and management of universities-changes that have wedded them and their futures to the vagaries of the global marketplace-Michael Ryan, College and Research Libraries In their fascinating study of public research universities, Slaughter and Leslie . . . affirm that tertiary education in the U.S. as well as in Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, especially since 1970, has merged with the marketplace, a development that alarms many as a kind of academic prostitution . . . This well-written book is must reading for anyone, lay or professional, seriously interested in the future of higher education.
-Choice The authors conclude that a better understanding of academic capitalism will foster and empower successful academic capitalists. However, they view with regret the demise of the concept of the university as a community in which the individual members are oriented primarily toward the greater good of the organization . . . The book provides a valuable overview of the globalization of the political economy.
-Jann Contento, Education Review
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
567 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-5549-8 (9780801855498)
DOI
10.56021/9780801855498
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Sheila Slaughter | Larry L. Leslie
Academic Capitalism
Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University
Book
01/2000
Johns Hopkins University Press
€39.50
Article not available for order
Persons
Sheila Slaughter is a professor of higher education at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona. Her books include Higher Learning and High Technology. Larry L. Leslie is a professor of higher education and the academic dean, College of Education, University of Arizona. His books include The Economic Value of Higher Education.