Where to from here … A gig economy of radical free thinkers?
People are generally drawn to academia because they are not drawn more to corporate or government life; valuing free deep roaming into thought over a fat pay check or the power of policy-making. They get off on knowing they are deferred to for well-informed thought. Respect is the hit for them. Independence is another.
Academia once represented the house of radicals - the place where boundary-pushing conversation was the daily norm and intentionally selected use of time. It too was flawed - an ivory silo that “wasn’t the real world” - and push for industry-partnered research to make their thinking more applicable has merit. But the pendulum swung too far and too quick, wreaking havoc with its long list of unintended consequences. The philosophers of society were forced to think hard about who they are and where their home would now be. Would they stay or would they go?
On account of the pandemic and the loss of international students the sector so heavily depended on, academia’s highly casualised workforce were at the frontline taking the first bullets. Behind them are permanent staff, with one in ten positions set to go in the coming months across Australian universities. As mentally free-roaming as a philosopher is, they are still human and like to belong too. But they are all being made to take an honest look in the mirror to see who’s really there. The old home they once took pride in is no longer viable, welcoming, or warm, but it’s cold and lonely on the outside too. What can they withstand more?
Freelance independent researchers blog about how overlooked they feel at conferences. Within microseconds, the blank on their name badge in the spot where everyone else has their university’s logo speaks volumes. They cannot borrow from a university’s reputation or the stamp of trust that they are employable and worthy of that. There are benefits the one in ten will lose and need to deeply consider.
But one in ten (joining 17,500 already retrenched casuals) in a short span of time is a big shift. Perhaps even a culture shift. Maybe the freelance independent researcher will now be contracted more - not just because it is a new norm - but because they are trusted to produce a quality of thinking not bound by conservative institutional forces. A new economy of thought production and dissemination is showing up. As with all change, we need to pay attention - there’ll be good and bad bits to look out for.