Work cultures

Posted on | April 24, 2009 | 3 Comments

C’s comment in the previous post illustrates much more effectively than I did the significance of addressing graduate futures. Surely the whole model of conference organisation that annual association conferences depend upon assumes an ongoing relationship with a department/university. How is it possible to nominate to organise a conference when you have no job security?

The other point to note is the bulimic nature of academic workloads for those who succeed in securing some kind of ongoing appointment at the junior level. Universities share tendencies with other cultural and creative sectors in that they operate on a “winner takes all” paradigm which renders the workloads of its highest performers close to overwhelming. As Boltanski and Chiapello describe it, this is the result of a wider economic system that operates on rewarding those who can demonstrate the quality of “employability” above and against the job criteria actually specified.

So the present context involves at least two tiers of structural oppression: a workrate so high that it punishes those who are the apparent “winners” in the new academic labour market; and a much larger group who can’t get entry in the first place. As long as those who do occupy the few continuing jobs available perpetuate the standards currently dictated by professional benchmarks of success, the majority looks set to stay working in contract positions, if they stay in the industry at all.

For more on this, I’ll be speaking at a seminar next Friday in honour of Labour Day, as part of the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies seminar series. Many of you will already know that this comes the day after the NTEU have called for a 24 hour strike at Sydney University. So, if you’re interested in work issues, it’s a topical event. Details below.

In the May Day Manifesto (1968), British cultural studies pioneer Raymond Williams was among a number of New Left activists to write:

“We believe that in work, centrally, the quality of our society is decided and will go on being decided.”

On May Day this year, the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney hosts a seminar dedicated to discussing working conditions in contemporary Australia. It showcases new research and policy directions responsive to today’s precarious workplace landscape. Three speakers will offer findings from current studies and campaigns that highlight the benefits that gender and cultural studies can bring to existing approaches to the study of work and the landscape of labor activism.

Melissa Gregg, “Function creep: Anticipatory affect in the information workplace”

Brigid Van Wanroy, “Couple strategies: Men and women’s approach to working hours over the life course”

Sarah Squire, “Work and family in Australia – a policy overview”

Friday, May 1, 2-4pm
Western Tower Boardroom
J4.03, Main Quad

About the speakers:

Melissa Gregg is an Australian Postdoctoral Discovery Fellow in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Her previous books are Cultural Studies’ Affective Voices (Palgrave, 2006), and the co-edited collection, The Affect Theory Reader (forthcoming Duke UP). With over 20 peer-reviewed publications, Melissa has been at the forefront of research into technology’s impact on professional and personal life. In November 2009, she is organising a major national conference on academic labour, “The State of the Industry”, with colleagues in the ARC Cultural Research Network.

Bigid Van Wanroy is a Leading Research Analyst at the Workplace Research Centre at The University of Sydney. She currently holds an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship and is the lead researcher for the “Australia at Work” study. This project is tracking 8,000 workers over five years to examine changes in working life. Brigid obtained her doctorate from the Australian National University, researching Australian working time preferences. She has contributed to various public and policy debates on long working hours in Australia. Brigid has been employed as a social researcher in the private sector and by the Federal Government.

Sarah Squire works at the NSW Office for Women’s Policy in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, where she is currently Acting Manager of the Women’s Policy Development Unit. Prior to this, Sarah worked for four years in a senior policy and research role in the Sex and Age Discrimination Unit at the Australian Human Rights Commission. While at the Commission, Sarah undertook extensive work in the area of paid maternity leave, and work and family policy, and she was the principal author of the Commission’s 2007 paper It’s About Time: Women, men, work and family. Previous roles include work as a Policy Adviser at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra. Sarah holds a PhD in Women’s Studies from La Trobe University.

Category: Work

Comments

3 Responses to “Work cultures”

  1. Kristian
    April 24th, 2009 @ 6:57 pm

    Do you know how long you’ll be presenting for? I’d love to come but probably wouldn’t be able to stay for the whole seminar due to … work.

  2. MC
    April 26th, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

    The presentations will be about 20 mins each, and I’m going first, I think. Hopefully that means you can come for a bit!

  3. ana australiana
    April 27th, 2009 @ 12:06 pm

    Mel, thanks so much for opening up this discussion. I’m a recent cultural studies PhD graduate (well, I put on the floppy hat next month, so perhaps I shouldn’t speak too soon!!) who has been on the sessional roundabout for the last couple of years* with no sign of a change in the future beyond the one you describe above as a “lucky” lady of tenure. In relation to the discussion below re the CSAA conference I have to say that Glen’s proposal seemed the most appealing….! Apart from the possibility of having some great colleagues with shared values there is nothing that’s attractive to me about becoming an ongoing academic and is not something that I am pursuing in an active way. This feels awfully schizophrenic and ironic considering the extraordinarily liberatory knowledges that I ‘gained’/was exposed to as a result of my university education and especially my PhD. This is partly why I will be using my available, unpaid time to attend the S.O.T.I conference! I really like the idea of holding SOTI alongside a CSAA day as proposed by Anna below – the issues are so clearly intertwined and as such I think we could get some very interesting outcomes that correspondingly address the ‘industry’ issues and the ‘field of study’ issues. It keeps faith with the visions for CS and keeps CS in a place where it is doing something different to other parts of the humanities and social sciences.

    *I once wrote an angry and fanciful post in relation to this, which may be found here:
    http://ana.people.vee.net/archives/2008/05/13/meme-passion-quilt/

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