A thought-provoking read, in the style of Freakonomics, about pay structures and working conditions within higher education. The similarities to drug gangs catches the eye, of course, but it’s interesting to read how this compares across countries.
How Academia resembles a drug gang
Academic systems rely on the existence of a supply of “outsiders” ready to forgo wages and employment security in exchange for the prospect of uncertain security, prestige, freedom and reasonably high salaries that tenured positions entail. Drawing on data from the US, Germany and the UK, Alexandre Afonso looks at how the academic job market is structured in many respects like a drug gang, with an expanding mass of outsiders and a shrinking core of insiders.
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