Mapping Academic Resistance in the Managerial University

Abstract

This article explores the phenomenon of academics' resistance to managerialism in the contemporary university. Drawing on interviews with 30 academics in ten Australian universities, it employs a range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives to map and analyse the forms of resistance to managerialism enacted by these academics. In particular, it draws on the work of James C. Scott, including his notions of the `weapons of the weak', and the `hidden transcript' of the subordinated and powerless, to frame an account of organizational resistance in higher education. It is argued here that Scott's anthropological studies of resistance make a useful contribution to an understanding of workplace resistance, complementing recent theoretical developments within this field which emphasize the importance of discursive resistance.