Academic Capitalism and Precarity in the Neoliberal University: Job Insecurity and Stress in Two Liberal Market Economies

This study analyses the relationship between academic capitalism and employment precarity. Drawing on two cross-national sources of survey data, we compare academics' experiences with job insecurity and related stress in Australian and Canadian universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although these two countries are similar liberal market economies, Australian higher education has embraced academic capitalism to a greater extent than in Canada. Against this backdrop, our study focuses on the moderating role of ‘soft income’ from international tuition fees and the use of contingent labour in explaining cross-country differences. We find that international tuition played a role in heightening job insecurity and associated stress, particularly in the Australian universities due to their greater reliance on this source of income. However, these outcomes converged for ‘permanent’ and ‘casual’ academics in Australia but diverged in Canada. We contend that the cross-national differentiation is likely due to the weaker job protections afforded to permanent academics in Australia.