Academic Capitalism

Sheila Slaughter is a professor of higher education at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona. Her books include Higher Learning and High Technology. Larry L. Leslie is a professor of higher education and the academic dean, College of Education, University of Arizona. His books include The Economic Value of Higher Education.

Without even mentioning the dreaded and dated Marx, the authors have produced a convincing analysis of the transition of the academy from its own protected form of feudalism to a predatory capitalism... [including] long-term changes in the ethos, aims, and management of universities-changes that have wedded them and their futures to the vagaries of the global marketplace -- Michael Ryan College and Research Libraries In their fascinating study of public research universities, Slaughter and Leslie... affirm that tertiary education in the U.S. as well as in Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, especially since 1970, has merged with the marketplace, a development that alarms many as a kind of academic prostitution... This well-written book is must reading for anyone, lay or professional, seriously interested in the future of higher education. Choice The authors conclude that a better understanding of academic capitalism will foster and empower successful academic capitalists. However, they view with regret the demise of the concept of the university as a community in which the individual members are oriented primarily toward the greater good of the organization... The book provides a valuable overview of the globalization of the political economy. -- Jann Contento, Arizona State University Education Review