The time of their lives? Academic workers in neoliberal time(s)

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the lives of academics as they are constituted in and through neoliberal time(s). We discuss those lives in relation to this present historical moment, with its particular features, emphases, and practices of government, and in this context explore the way time is constituted by academics and the way it constitutes those lives. We consider neoliberal practices of work intensification and their impacts on the health and wellbeing of academic workers, and ask how else the relations between academic subjects and time might be constituted, and whether a different sense of time is required if academic work and the academic subject are to flourish.

Key Words:

• Academic workers
• neoliberal time(s)
• subjectivity
• work intensification
• workplace restructuring
• stress and well-being