Three-D Issue 27: Knowledge economy and the managerialization of humanities: a democratic approach?
As part of my research interests, I have been drawn to reflect on the potential social impact of a scenario in which Higher Education in the United Kingdom, and in particular the field of the humanities, may become increasingly privatized, embracing the tenets of an unbridled capitalist market. This would likely entail a widening of existing inequalities, as well as a weakening of the critical approach that institutions such as universities are able to foster through the fundamental bedrock of the field of human and social sciences and cultural studies. The immediate concern is that just as growing inequality separates the wealthy few from increasingly large strata of society, so the increasing managerialization of universities would further broaden economic divides by submitting completely to market forces. A related danger could be a strengthening of the delusional claim, related to neoliberal ideology, that a new and increasingly privatized 'knowledge economy' would benefit society at large. In fact, such an outcome would probably undermine the very role of universities as institutions that can manage a degree of independence from such forces, fostering social critique and struggles for equality.
4 In Defence of Public Higher Education: Knowledge for a Successful Society (The Alternative White Paper).
8 See Radice, U. (2013), 'How We Got Here: UK Higher Education under Neoliberalism', ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 12 (3), pp. 407-418.