Some binaries I still believe in

Posted on | March 24, 2009 | 2 Comments

Now I’m in Leeds where there are slightly more clouds in the sky but fewer people in the streets and that’s probably a combination I prefer. Yesterday I tested out my new HK running shoes and added another introduction to the book chapter I’m working on, precipitated by a range of conversations I’ve been having over recent days. First and foremost is the relationship between last week’s newspaper headlines in England showing unemployment had reached two million and the state of anticipation academics feel about their own jobs. It’s not that tenured academics have any more reason to feel vulnerable with the economic downturn — this doesn’t seem to be the case for the people I’ve been speaking to. Rather it’s the additional pressure they feel, now that jobs are in themselves so valuable, to make excuses for conditions that have been around for some time now–which is to say, workloads that had already moved beyond any realistic capacity to manage.

The reactions I’ve been getting from the talks so far – beyond incredulity at the Bogan Gifts application on Facebook – show degrees of identification with the thoughts of workers in my study. A number of the older academics seem to recognise the participants’ acceptance of a gradual increase in work demands and the ways that technology allows work to enter into spaces and times that were previously free of its presence. In this context, in response to these comments, so what if some industries have always had blurry divisions between paid hours and off-the-clock? The point is that companies of all kinds now use this model as the basis for efficiency regimes on a massive scale because they have found a workforce that no longer feels the need to differentiate between what is paid and what is not.

Here it is precisely academics with tenure that have a case to answer, more so than the freelance journalists Mel speaks of (but who could equally do with some labour consciousness). The bulemic work practices freelancers face and the entrepreneurial effort required to generate ongoing opportunities have more in common with research-only contract jobs than the generation of long-term teaching staff who have largely been protected from the competitiveness of the portfolio career.

That said, these latter jobs have become subject to an incredible amount of self-auditing with the uptake of neoliberal management techniques that encourage autonomy and flexibility as long as ALL the work continues to be done. It is not simply coincidence that in so many cases this work consists of entering information into an array of online databases quantifying outcomes or Microsoft Office documents that are downloaded, edited, repackaged and uploaded in response to thousands of solicitous emails politely requesting urgent compliance.

These are some of the specificities worth mentioning before we dismiss the role of technology in any of these issues. It should not be necessary to point out that people simply do not have the time to negotiate intimacy rules and terms of access with 189 Facebook “friends”. What inspired my previous anecdote was a wider frustration I was feeling – perhaps even channelling, in response to discussions with others – to do with the kinds of autonomy I want to enjoy and sustain beyond the industrial demands of my job. They are questions of etiquette and politeness that pertain to any era of professional life and are about respecting people’s legitimate attempts to carve out small semblances of non-work space so that daily life is tolerable.

There may be some people who find pleasure or even glamour in blurring the boundaries between friendship and professional obligation, but I imagine we each have a limit point where we would like to be treated as human. At least in my definition, this still involves being being assumed to have a life outside of work – and wishing the same for others.

Category: Research, Web(log) Stuff, Work
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Comments

2 Responses to “Some binaries I still believe in”

  1. barry
    March 24th, 2009 @ 10:35 pm

    I don’t disagree, except to say that a) it’s a bit rough to suggest that freelance journos don’t have a labor consciousness, i’m sure they do – it’s just that there’s no effective conduit for their concerns and b) It should not be necessary to point out that people simply do not have the time to negotiate intimacy rules and terms of access with 189 Facebook “friends”. Really? I manage more than that fine, and I would wager so do many other people. Attributing your personal experience to the wider public is poor argument at best.

  2. glen
    March 26th, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

    One thing I’ve been thinking about for a while now are the different rhythms of creativity in academia compared to working in the so-called creative industries. I am now forced to be as creative if not more creative on a dailly basis. For example article writing has many problems that may be different in character and comparatively ‘easier’ than say dissertation writing but they still demand the same creative thought process. It is a change in the ebb and flow of intensity, too. Many small thoughts versus a few big ones.

    Reconciling the inherent creative labour of writing and basic journalistic practice and the inherent conservatism of the commercial side of the creative industries is also difficult to accept. ut that is a question of old fashion Ka-POWAH!

    Actually that would make for an awesome t-shirt! A pop-art style Michel Foucault head with a Batman-esque KA-POWAH with “…is everywhere.”

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