Academic capitalism challenging democratic governance

Psychosocial interpretation of the logics in university work after university reform

Authors

• Tiina Nikkola Jyväskylän yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1216-8375
• Tuomas Tervasmäki Tampereen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.109711

Keywords:

atomisation, competition, uncertainty, university, democracy

Abstract

After the 2009 Universities Act the working cultures of Finnish universities have been in constant change. Management systems have been developed by strengthening strategic management and market logics over university democracy, in other words, shifting the power from the university community to central management and operators from outside. The aim of these changes has been to increase the productivity of work communities, but at the same time, these reforms have been causing unexpected consequences. Even though the discussion about the organisation of knowledge work has been substantial in recent years, the discussion about the reflection of workers' experiences in relation to larger organisational practices and changes in society has been scarce. In this paper, we summarise the results of the project The undercurrent of the groups and communities. We re-interpret three empirical studies from the university democracy point of view and reflect these results on university policies that are demanding strategic leadership. In our data, the academics and other university personnels experience their work as emotionally burdening and characterized by uncertainty. In this article, we explore which kind of consequences the organisation of knowledge work by market logics has for the operations of university communities and for the development of academic subjectivity. We also ask how strengthening the self-government of the university community – thus more democratic decision-making – could repair the grievances in organisation and strengthen the mission of universities democratic purpose.