‘People look at you like you’re mad if you say good things about academia’: collective negativity, anti-neoliberalism, and hostility to institutions in UK higher education—the dark side of solidarity?

Abstract

Contemporary UK academia is riven with discontent: academics perform dissatisfaction on picket lines and social media, critiquing the so-called “neoliberal” university. This article draws on interviews with academic staff across England to consider the implications of this turn to complaint, arguing that belief in the toxicity of neoliberal academia and a corresponding romanticised investment in a “golden age” of HE has become required thinking. Focusing on the perception that university management, as a metonym for the institution, are suspect, I conclude that the prevalence of this belief, and its normative status, may promote solidarity between academics, but at a cost. If there is space for solidarity, the common ground upon which it is built appears to be dissatisfaction, negativity, and vocal disavowal of contemporary trends. However, every collective act also contains tensions, contradictions, and exclusions, which may go unexamined, especially if the prevailing ideology is believed to be progressive.