Speaking of Universities

by Stefan Collini

This is part of the explanation for the pervasive sense of malaise, stress and disenchantment within British universities. Some will confidently declare that such reactions merely reflect the necessary jolt to the feelings and self-esteem of a hitherto protected elite as they are brought into ‘the real world’. Like postmen complaining about changes to their work practices or head teachers retiring early in droves, grumbling academics are, it will be said, merely a symptom of the modernization of their industry, always a process that produces squeals. But there is obviously something much deeper at work here. It is the alienation from oneself that is experienced by those who are constantly forced to describe their activities in misleading terms. The managers, by contrast, do not feel this and for good reason, for the terms which suit their activities are the terms which have triumphed: scholars now spend a considerable, and increasing, part of their working day accounting for their activities in the managers’ terms. The true use-value of scholarly labour can seem to have been somehow squeezed out; only the exchange-value of the commodities produced, as measured by the metrics, remains.