The Commodification and Deprofessionalization of the PhD

“You see us in your departments. We look like you. We speak like you. We even teach many of the same courses you do. However, we garner less than half the pay for twice the work; take on the most onerous classes; get no health, unemployment, or retirement benefits; and go from term to term without assurance of continued employment or any employment at all. We are subject to intense financial pressure and instability. We have no ability to plan for or predict our future or that of our families or our (rental) homes. And, occasionally, just to remind us of our uncertain and ambiguous position, of which we are always fully cognizant, someone feels that they have to ‘put us in our place’ …” (more)

[Martin Mulford, Perspectives on History, February]

Leave a Reply