Abstract
In 1966 a British historian of education, Brian Simon, wrote that ‘there is, perhaps, no more liberating influence than the knowledge that things have not always been as they are and need not remain so’ (p. 9). One of the main benefits of growing older can be the accruing of experientially based knowledge that things have been different in the past and that there may be an alternative, even when the existence of dominant narratives suggests that there isn’t. In this chapter, and with the full awareness that memories and stories are always and ever potentially changeable personal interpretations, influenced by contexts, beliefs and values, I want to share some observations around, and reflections on, experiences within the neoliberal university that are grounded in a career in higher education beginning in 1974 when I first went to teacher training college. I know that some may charge me with golden age thinking while others might suspect that I’m guilty of constructing a revenge piece but as my stories resonate with those being told by plenty of other, often younger, academics, such accusations seem less defendable. Stephan Ball (British Journal of Sociology of Education 37:1129–1146, 2016) has commented that ‘subjectivity is a key site of political struggle in the contexts of neo-liberalisation and neoliberal governmentality… offering… forms of resistance to, or what I shall call the refusal of, neo-liberalisation’ (p. 1129). To me, this privileging of subjectivity echoes C. Wright Mills’ (The Sociological Imagination. Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1970) exhortation to sociologists to use the sociological imagination ethically and critically and in such a way that ‘the personal uneasiness of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues’ (pp. 11–12). I’ve spent much of the last 45 years following that imperative to explore aspects of teachers’ lives and careers. Here, in a series of vignettes, my focus is on my own personal uneasiness and downright discomfort as I have come to experience the climate within, and the demands of, contemporary academia as inimical to my ethical, moral, physical and mental well-being.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, T. (2008). A review of narrative ethics. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(2), 175–194.
Adams, T., & Herrmann, A. (2020). Expanding our autoethnographic future. Journal of Autoethnography, 1(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1525/joae.2020.1.1.1
Ball, S. (2012). Performativity, commodification and commitment: An I-spy guide to the neoliberal university. British Journal of Educational Studies, 60(1), 17–28.
Ball, S. (2016). Subjectivity as a site of struggle: Refusing neoliberalism? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(8), 1129–1146.
Bullough, R. V., Jr. (2020). ‘Bestirring the quiet voice of ethically engaged reason’: Public intellectuals, education and Ivor Goodson. In P. Sikes & Y. Novacovik (Eds.), Storying the public intellectual: Commentaries on the impact and influence of the work of Ivor Goodson (pp. 80–88). Routledge.
Delamont, S. (2007, September 5–7). Arguments against autoethnography. Paper presented at BERA conference, Institute of Education, University of London.
Delamont, S. (2009). The only honest thing: Autoethnography, reflexivity and small crises in fieldwork. Ethnography and Education, 4, 51–63.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. Kappa Delata Pi.
Ellis, C. (2007). Telling secrets, revealing lies: Relational ethics in intimate research with others. Qualitative Inquiry, 13, 3–29.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Sage.
Maisuria, A., & Holmes, S. (2020). Life for the academic in the neo-liberal university. Routledge.
Marx, K. (1875). Critique of the Gotha Project.
Mills, C. W. (1970). The Sociological Imagination. Penguin (Originally published in 1959 by Oxford University Press).
Moriarty, J. (Ed.). (2019). Autoethnographies from the neoliberal academy: Rewilding, writing and resistance in Higher Education. Routledge.
Piper, H., & Sikes, P. (2010). ‘All teachers are vulnerable, but especially gay teachers’: Using composite fictions to protect research participants in pupil-teacher sex related research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(7), 566–574.
Richardson, L. (1990). Narrative and sociology. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 19(1), 116–135.
Rosen, H. (1998). Speaking from memory: The study of autobiographical discourse. Trentham.
Sikes, P. (2017). ‘But who is Mrs Galinsky, mother?’: From Nana Sikes’ stories to studying lives and careers. In I. Goodson, A. Antikainen, P. Sikes, & M. Andrews (Eds.), The Routledge handbook on narrative and life history (pp. 405–430). Routledge.
Sikes, P., & Goodson, I. (2003). Living research: Thoughts on educational research as moral practice. In P. Sikes, J. Nixon, & W. Carr (Eds.), The moral foundations of educational research: Knowledge, inquiry and values (pp. 32–51). Open University Press/McGraw Hill Educational.
Sikes, P., Measor, L., & Woods, P. (1985). Teacher careers: Crises and continuities. Falmer.
Sikes, P., Nixon, J. & Carr, W. (Eds.). (2003). The moral foundations of educational research: Knowledge, inquiry and values. Open University Press/McGraw Hill Educational.
Sikes, P., & Troyna, B. (1991). True stories: A case study in the use of life history in initial teacher education. Educational Review, 43(1), 3–16.
Simon, B. (1966). The history of education. In J. W. Tibble (Ed.), The study of education. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sparkes, A. (2007). Embodiment, academics and the audit culture: A story seeking consideration. Qualitative Research, 7(4), 521–550.
Sparkes, A. (2018). Autoethnography comes of age: Consequences, comforts and concerns. In D. Beach, C. Bagley, & S. Marques da Silva (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of ethnography of education (pp. 497–499). Wiley Blackwell.
Stanley, E. (1993). On auto/biography in sociology. Sociology, 27(1), 41–52.
Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Heinemann.
Tierney, W. (2000). Undaunted courage: Life history and the post modern challenge. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Sage.
Tolich, M. (2004). Internal confidentiality: When confidentiality assurances fail relational informants. Qualitative Sociology, 27(1), 101–106.
Tolich, M. (2010). A critique of current practice: Ten foundational guidelines for autoethnography. Qualitative Health Research, 20, 1599–1610.
Vickers, M. (2002). Researchers as storytellers: Writing on the edge and without a safety net. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(5), 685–621.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sikes, P. (2023). Personal Troubles, Public Concerns: A Story from a Neoliberal Academy. In: Vicars, M., Pelosi, L. (eds) Storying Pedagogy as Critical Praxis in the Neoliberal University. Rethinking Higher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4246-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4246-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-4245-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-4246-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)