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- Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Pedagogy - Higher Education, grade: 2, University of Vienna (Soziologie), course: Class Relations in the Global Digital Economy, language: English, abstract: The following paper shall examine the processes of commodification in the German speaking academic context and illustrate the “state of the art” of research of the commodification of academic labor on several dimensions: (i) by university research institutions and (ii) by student organizations. It should illustrate, in reference to the theoretical framework by Ursula Huws, the institutional “discussion” of the academic commodification and should demonstrate that there is a lack of research about the commodification and a result of this lack is a missing discourse about these specific aspect of the economization of the university system in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The paper is structured in three parts; the first chapter will gives a theoretical introduction to the means of the commodification of intellectual activity and when we talking about economization and the resulting new interdependencies I will connect the Marxist based Framework by Huws with the Governance Concept of Michael Foucault. After these theoretical embedding it follows an empirical overview about the situation in the German speaking academic landscape. Then I like to give a reflection on the topic, sum up the research findings and like to raise some further questions. “Commodification as the process of transforming things into objects for sale has become a totalizing cultural force” (T-H-R 2003: 5) and it is described as the “essence of our time” (Ley & Harriss 2012). Under advanced capitalism , commodification expands into all corners of social and political life . But not everything useful is a commodity. What makes anything a commodity is the possibility of trading it for profit? They are not only means of production that are traded in this process, not only raw materials and machinery, but also labor or knowledge.
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CONTENT
Introduction: The General Problem of Commodification of the University System
Theoretical Framework of Commodification
A little Introduction and Overview of the Situation on German Speaking Universities
Some Conclusions
References
Introduction: The General Problem of Commodification of the University System
“These days you can buy almost anything. Sperm and eggs are advertised on the
web. Speed dating services will provide you with several minutes-long dates in
one night for the right price. Human organs are being bought and sold around
the world. Universities are increasingly thinking of the education that they offer
as a ‘product’ and their students as ‘consumers.’ “
(T-H-R. 2003: 5).
In March 2015 held up the second conference of science 2. 0 with talks about the new possibilities for science by the usage of new technologies like MOOCs, the use of digital libraries, new online based research tools, evaluating systems etc. (Science 2.0). But the discussion about the transformation of labor in context of commodification by the development of new technologies and work strategies were marginal. “Commodification as the process of transforming things into objects for sale has become a totalizing cultural force” (T-H-R 2003: 5) and it is described as the “essence of our time”[1] (Ley & Harriss 2012). Under advanced capitalism[2], commodification expands into all corners of social and political life[3]. But not everything useful is a commodity. What makes anything a commodity is the possibility of trading it for profit?[4] They are not only means of production that are traded in this process, not only raw materials and machinery, but also labor or knowledge (Huws 2014). Over the time, everything that enters into capitalists costs of production, whether it is a material good or an activity, it will becomes commodified, while more and more things enter into the capitalist production. One major driver of these process is the will and the need to cut labor costs, but it can also have knock-on effects like the technology developed to cut labor costs in one field creates possibilities for creating new wants or needs in another. Theoretical is commodification understandable as an engine of economic technological and in the consequence as an instrument of social change[5] (ibid. 36). It is interlinked in complex ways with the need for expansion for other purposes – the finding of new markets, new sources of cheap labor and new sites of capital accumulation[6] (ibid. 36). The social consequences of this process are destabilizing and the commodification of the public sphere[7] thus involves a change from one set of norms and incentives to another. The notion of commodification of knowledge as having transformed the environment for knowledge institutions such as universities[8] and other higher education organizations. Commodification of knowledge may be understood to mean transforming knowledge into a commodity ready for use or consumption[9] (Weingart 2008; 2010; Heuer & Schulze 2012). Since the 1980s, most universities in the Western world have experienced substantial changes as a consequence of an ongoing process of commodification[10] (Lawrence & Sharma 2002: 661). Commodification affects a variety of aspects of higher education, such as research, teaching, administration, knowledge products such as text books, electronic journals, teaching and learning platforms such as WebCt, research analysis software packages such as SPSS or MAXQDA[11] all of which require an annual license fee to be paid by the user (Botshelo 2008: 2; Radder 2010: 1). “Reflecting this understanding, studies of academics have generally examined the changing institutional framework of their work, as well as its content, independently of the wider politico-economic conditions of its development.” (Wilmott 1995: 995) The following paper shall examine the processes of commodification in the German speaking academic context and illustrate the “state of the art” of research of the commodification of academic labor on several dimensions: (i) by university research institutions and (ii) by student organizations. It should illustrate, in reference to the theoretical framework by Ursula Huws, the institutional “discussion” of the academic commodification and should demonstrate that there is a lack of research about the commodification and a result of these lack is a missing discourse about these specific aspect of the economization of the university system in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The paper is structured in three parts; the first chapter will gives a theoretical introduction to the means of the commodification of intellectual activity and when we talking about economization and the resulting new interdependencies I will connect the Marxist based Framework by Huws with the Governance Concept of Michael Foucault. After these theoretical embedding it follows an empirical overview about the situation in the German speaking academic landscape. Then I like to give a reflection on the topic, sum up the research findings and like to raise some further questions.
