scholarly journals Revealing the manifestations of neoliberalism in academia: Academic collective action in Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-418
Author(s):  
Canan Coşkan ◽  
Yasemin Gülsüm Acar ◽  
Aydın Bayad
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Contextual Factor ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Psychological Concepts

Academic Collective Action (ACA) stands as a small-scale collective action for social change toward liberation, independence and equity in academia. Academic collectives in Turkey, as an example of ACA, prefigure building academia outside the university by emphasizing the extent to which neoliberal academia has already prepared the groundwork for more recent waves of oppression. In this research, we aim to reveal the manifestations of neoliberalism in ACA as captured with prominent social/political psychological concepts of collective action. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 dismissed academics to understand the social and political psychological processes in academic collectives. The narrations of ACA were accompanied by manifestations of neoliberalism as experienced by dismissed academics. We found that, as follows from the existing conceptual tools of collective action, neoliberalism serves as an embedded contextual factor in the process of ACA. This becomes mostly visible for grievances but also for collective identifications, politicization, motivations, finding/allocating resources and sustaining academic collectives. We provide a preliminary basis to understand the role of neoliberalism in organization, mobilization and empowerment dynamics of collective action.

scholarly journals Entry barriers and “Glass Roof” in University Management in Colombia

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (65) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Cristian Bedoya Dorado ◽  
Mónica García-Solarte ◽  
Juan Sebastián Peña-Zúñiga ◽  
Steven Alejandro Piñeros Buriticá
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
University Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Management Positions ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

Management in the context of higher education has been characterized by the predominance of male participation, mainly in senior management positions. As a result, women’s low participation is mainly concentrated in lower management positions, and their chances of escalating hierarchical positions are mediated by various factors ranging from subjective to socially naturalized. The objective of this research is to analyze the barriers women face to enter and escalate positions in university management in Colombia. Under a qualitative design, 26 semi-structured interviews were applied to university managers from different institutions of higher education in Colombia. The transcripts were analyzed using discourse analysis through three categories: individual, internal, and external barriers of the university. It was found that women face entry and promotion barriers marked by experiences, and conditions of inequality and discrimination in a male-dominated context. These barriers are conditioned by personal elements, organizational culture, and the social role of women. In addition, women’s trajectories involve mediation between professional development and family life. The study reveals experiences that contribute to understanding the research phenomenon from the webbing of senses and meanings. It is posited that the “glass ceiling” is mediated by variables in the internal order, and by the relationship between universities and their context.

scholarly journals Suvremeni modeli Sveučilišta i regionalni razvoj - primjer Sveučilišta u Zadru

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1.) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Marelić
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Endogenous Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Resource ◽  
The University ◽  
Successful Collaboration

The modern university has changed its role of exclusive place of teaching and research toward the networked actor of regional development. Contemporary models of universities emphasize their role as a place of knowledge production which is applicable in the regional development. The paper presents the results of research of local and regional development of stakeholders in Zadar and Zadar County and their attitudes toward the University of Zadar. In the research was conducted qualitative research based on the ten semi-structured interviews. It is shown that regional stakeholders emphasize the economic developmental component and the idea of endogenous development based on developing existing strong branches of the Zadar economy, and university is viewed primarily as a potential resource, rather than as an active stakeholder. The social development is thereby less pronounced, but is perceived as a locus of potential successful collaboration with the University of Zadar.

Tertiary English-majored Students’ Perceptions toward the Role of Pronunciation in English Language Learning and their Practicing Strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-279
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The University

Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020

WORK-BASED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES OF LEARNERS, WORKPLACES AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Roosipõld ◽  
Krista Loogma ◽  
Mare Kurvits ◽  
Kristina Murtazin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
University Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Constructivist Learning Theory ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
Restaurant Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Social Constructivist Learning

In recent years, providing higher education in the form of work-based learning has become more important in the higher education (HE) policy and practice almost in all EU countries. Work-based learning (WBL) in HE should support the development of competences of self-guided learners and adjust the university education better to the needs of the workplace. The study is based on two pilot projects of WBL in HE in Estonia: Tourism and Restaurant Management professional HE programme and the master’s programme in Business Information Technology. The model of integrative pedagogy, based on the social-constructivist learning theory, is taken as a theoretical foundation for the study. A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with the target groups. The data analysis used a horizontal analysis to find cross-cutting themes and identify patterns of actions and connections. It appears, that the challenge for HE is to create better cooperation among stakeholders; the challenge for workplaces is connected with better involvement of students; the challenge for students is to take more initiative and responsibility in communication with workplaces.

The Unethics of Sharing: Wikiwashing

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Mayo Fuster Morell
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Voluntary Work ◽  
Technological Infrastructure ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Privacy Violation ◽  
Basic Infrastructure ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

In order for online communities to assemble and grow, some basic infrastructure is necessary that makes possible the aggregation of the collective action. There is a very intimate and complex relationship between the technological infrastructure and the social character of the community which uses it. Today, most infrastructure is provided by corporations and the contrast between community and corporate dynamics is becoming increasingly pronounced. But rather than address the issues, the corporations are actively obfuscating it. Wikiwashing refers to a strategy of corporate infrastructure providers where practices associated to their role of profit seeking corporations (such as abusive terms of use, privacy violation, censorship, and use of voluntary work for profit purposes, among others) that would be seen as unethical by the communities they enable are concealed by promoting a misleading image of themselves associated with the general values of wikis and Wikipedia (such as sharing and collaboration, openness and transparency). The empirical analysis is based on case studies (Facebook , Yahoo! and Google) and triangulation of several methods.

scholarly journals Curriculum design in theology and development: Human agency and the prophetic role of the church

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Haddad
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

The field of theology and development is a relatively new sub-discipline within theological studies in Africa. The first formal post-graduate programme was introduced at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during the mid-1990s. In the early years it was known as the Leadership and Development programme and since 2000, as the Theology and Development programme. Over the past twenty years, this programme has graduated over 160 BTh Honours, 100 MTh, and 15 PhD students. This article outlines the history of the programme, addresses its ideological orientation, its pedagogical commitments and preferences in curriculum design. It further argues that theological reflection on “development” must seek to understand the prophetic role of the church in responding to the complexities of the social issues facing the African continent.  Key to this discussion is the contested nature of “development” and the need for theological perspectives to engage this contestation through a social analysis of the global structures of injustice. This requires an engagement with the social sciences. It is this engagement of the social sciences with theological reflection, the essay argues, that has enabled the students who have graduated from the Theology and Development Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assist the church and faith-based organisations to become effective agents of social transformation.

scholarly journals Organizational Practices and Workplace Relationships in Precarious Work: New Survey Evidence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Workplace Relationships ◽  
Relationship Formation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Regular Contact ◽  
Retail Workers

Organizational practices are important dimensions of the social contexts that shape relationship formation. In workplaces, the formation of relationships among coworkers are resources for personal outcomes, and they can be channels through which workers might identify common grievances, form workplace solidarity, and engage in collective action. Using a unique dataset of retail workers across the United States, The Shift Project, this paper examines two potential pathways by which organizational practices common in precarious jobs in the retail industry in the U.S. might shape the formation of workplace relationships. I find evidence of the role of both pathways: practices that limit the opportunities for regular contact and practices that negatively impact the conditions of contact among employees are both associated with fewer workplace ties. I discuss the implications of these findings for the study of collective action, and network ecology.

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