| Abstract: |
Research and teaching conditions have, particularly for those who are junior
or from disadvantaged backgrounds, deteriorated considerably over the years in
the higher education sector. Unequal opportunities in access and advancement
in careers have led to increasing levels of precarity in the higher education
sector. Although the concept of precarity has been grasped in many other
disciplines, the social-psychological understanding of this concept remains
unexplored. In this paper, we aim to develop a social-psychological
understanding of precarity to examine how identity dynamics and intergroup
relations, as well as associated organizational controls, reinforce inequality
regimes and power structures that create precarious conditions in academia. In
doing so, we use social identity theory and system justification theory under
an inequality regime framework. We argue that even though change towards
equality and equity in academia should be possible, it is difficult to achieve
this because of entrenched identity interests by power holders and the
perceived legitimacy of the existing system. Therefore, academic precarity
should be recognized both as a subjective experience and as an organizational
practice to make inequalities more visible and decrease the perceptions of
legitimacy—and to eventually achieve a fundamental positive transformation in
academia. |