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<p>This paper takes a person-in-context approach to explore how the neoliberal university, embroiled in discourses of ‘progress’, influences academics’ narrativization and navigation of career. Whilst aware of the role ‘progress’ plays in framing a ‘traditional career’, academics find themselves having to navigate the contours of the university – where matrices shout to the tide of ‘progress’ and where what gets measured supposedly gets done. Such matrices, providing a violent quantification of reality (Gee, 2020), reduce pedagogy to lustful percentages of satisfaction, research to star status – mirroring the aspirations of a McDonald’s ‘Diningroom Server’ - and community engagement to a hurtful simile of impact. This research engages in dialogical-biography to provide insight into career turning points and meaning-making, with attention to broader contextual and conceptual dimensions. The paper explores tensions between ‘social justice’ and ‘progress’ with the aim of furthering debate within career-studies on the paradoxical relations of ‘career’ and ‘progress’ in academia today and considering the implications for human resource development.</p>
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This paper takes a person-in-context approach to explore how the neoliberal university, embroiled in discourses of ‘progress’, influences academics’ narrativization and navigation of career. Whilst aware of the role ‘progress’ plays in framing a ‘traditional career’, academics find themselves having to navigate the contours of the university – where matrices shout to the tide of ‘progress’ and where what gets measured supposedly gets done. Such matrices, providing a violent quantification of reality (Gee, 2020), reduce pedagogy to lustful percentages of satisfaction, research to star status – mirroring the aspirations of a McDonald’s ‘Diningroom Server’ - and community engagement to a hurtful simile of impact. This research engages in dialogical-biography to provide insight into career turning points and meaning-making, with attention to broader contextual and conceptual dimensions. The paper explores tensions between ‘social justice’ and ‘progress’ with the aim of furthering debate within career-studies on the paradoxical relations of ‘career’ and ‘progress’ in academia today and considering the implications for human resource development.

Paradoxes of ‘Career’ and ‘Progress’ in the Neoliberal University: A Self-Critique and Deconstruction

International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This paper takes a person-in-context approach to explore how the neoliberal university, embroiled in discourses of ‘progress’, influences academics’...

Paradoxes of ‘Career’ and ‘Progress’ in the Neoliberal University: A Self-Critique and Deconstruction

Published Online: Feb 16, 2024

Page range: 38 - 54

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijhrd-2023-0004

Keywords
academic careers, neoliberal university, performance management, Research Excellence Framework, human resource development

© 2023 Ricky Gee et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Paradoxes of ‘Career’ and ‘Progress’ in the Neoliberal University: A Self-Critique and Deconstruction

Published Online: Feb 16, 2024

Page range: 38 - 54

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijhrd-2023-0004

Keywordsacademic careers, neoliberal university, performance management, Research Excellence Framework, human resource development

© 2023 Ricky Gee et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
academic careers, neoliberal university, performance management, Research Excellence Framework, human resource development