Abstract:
Academic capitalism is an outcome of the interplay between
neoliberalism, globalisation, markets and universities. Universities
have embraced the commercialisation of knowledge, technology
transfer and research funding as well as introducing performance
and audit practices. Academic capitalism has become internalised
as a regulatory mechanism by academics who attempt to accumulate
academic capital. Universities are traditionally gendered
organisations, reflecting the societal gender order. Despite fears
regarding the feminisation of the academy, the embrace of academic
capitalism is contributing to its re-masculinisation and
exercises an incidental gender effect. Practicing is the means by
which the gender order is constituted at work. Three practices in
which academics engage are examined as exemplars of the way
academics increase their academic capital stock in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) faculties in four
European universities, in Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland and Turkey.
These practices tend to be more achievable and likely to be
engaged in by men, thus, career practices are the mechanism
through which the gender effect of academic capitalism is
achieved, academic capitalism perpetuated and the gender order
maintained in STEM in academia.