Shaping for Mediocrity

David Harvie is a deprofessionalised intellectual. Until 2021 he sold his labour-power to the University of Leicester, where he was associate professor of finance and political economy. He is co-founder of the Institute for Commoning and of The Breakdown Institute. He lives in Leeds, UK.Gibson Burrell is Honorary Professor of Organisation Theory at the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster and York. He was recipient of the 2014 American Academy of Management OMT Division’s biennial Joanne Martin ‘Trailblazer’ award for lifelong contribution to the area and recipient of the Richard Whipp ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the British Academy of Management in September 2021. Whilst at the University of Leicester, between 2003 and 2007 he was Head of the School of Management, and from 2003 until 2021 was Professor of Organisation Theory.Ronald Hartz is Research Assistant at Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany. He is interested in organisation and management studies, alternative forms of work and organisation, and the discursive constitution of organisations. Recently, he became interested in the critical exploration of the transformation of higher education.Geoff Lightfoot was so dismayed by the behaviour of the management at the University of Leicester that he left academia. He now works for Citizens Advice.Simon Lilley is Professor of Organisational Studies and Management at Lincoln International Business School at the University of Lincoln. He likes it there. Lincoln’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy emphasises ‘Respecting academic freedom and valuing excellent research of all forms’. It makes a very pleasant change.