University Bleak House

“Capitalism on Campus – Sex Work, Academic Freedom and the Market,” by Ron Roberts, 2018

This book is a little like finding one cockroach in your kitchen, then prying the side molding to discover a whole gang of cockroaches in the wall.  The single cockroach in this case is sex work – i.e. sex work undertaken by students to pay their tuition, fees and room and board.  According to Roberts it is a topic no U.K. university, official student group (the NUS) or government wants to deal with.  In the process of doing research on this issue, or trying to do research, Roberts illuminates the neo-liberal façade of the University – not just in the U.K. but also in other countries like the U.S.

And boy is he pissed.  Anyone familiar with ‘higher’ education knows that it is riven with careerism, jealousy, mediocrity, thought control and bureaucratism. If one was to look into its ties to the intelligence services, the military and many corporations, the image gets even darker.  No longer are modern Universities in the business of freely exploring knowledge as such.  Roberts thinks they have become thoroughly marketized, oriented towards the need of powerful social and economic entities.  Students are now ‘consumers.’  Necessary research and departments are those that bring in corporate money.  Administrations full of what he calls ‘failed academics’ carry out the job of protecting the University’s ‘brand’ and their own behinds, along with their allies.  This is the source of university profits – ah, tuition.  Social promotion and lower standards are normal for students and faculty alike.  And all the while, students fall farther and farther behind in loan debt.  In 2017 £50K was the average U.K. student debt.

Which is where sex work comes in.  Escorting, prostitution, lap-dancing, stripping, dancing, internet video, pornography and chat sites are very high-earning activities.  Roberts’ studies indicate that around 5%-6% of U.K. university students engage in these, mostly to pay education bills.  German studies show a bit higher rate of 7%.  In 2013 30% of U.K. students knew of someone working in the sex trade.  In some cities the majority of sex workers are students.  The proportion has grown since tuition fees were reintroduced in the U.K. in the 1990s.  In 2017 they could raise fees up to £9.25K.  Roberts estimates that student sex work contributes between £5.16M and £6.41M to schools.  So there is a direct parallel between the privatization of higher education in the U.K. and the resort to sex work. 

This is why modern, numerous and well-paid university administrators who are committed to the neo-liberal project don’t want to deal with the issue, while discouraging or threatening Roberts’ research into the topic.  Sex work directly implicates higher tuition, huge student loans and class filtering brought about by the universities moving to a market orientation.  Sexual panic and prudery by administrators also animate part of the discussion, as can be guessed.  This relates to sexual assaults on campuses, which are even higher in the U.K. than the U.S.  You can’t sell your university to parents with images like this and ‘image’ is everything nowadays. 

Roberts writes in the somewhat florid and repetitive style of Henry Giroux, who he quotes a number of times. As a leftist he leans to the intersectional identity aspect befitting so many academics.  Roberts contends the university is ‘dead’ – but of course if it actually were dead its death wouldn’t be such a secret.  He contends that many academics know there is something deeply wrong, but stay for the perks and paychecks.  This is no different than any number of corporate employees.  Neo-liberal practices against academic freedom contravene EU, UN and British codes but universities still motor on. 

Roberts indicates that sometimes ‘ethics’ boards are used to discipline those doing research into forbidden topics.  In the U.S. this is similar to the IRB. Roberts knows that the infantilization of students is also part of this, as over-blown ideas of student ‘safety’ are an obsession for administrators.  In Britain universities can claim that academic freedom is limited by reputational damage, which if taken to its logical conclusion would limit much research and speech.  Even the so-called National Union of Students (NUS) ignores the sex work issue, as most of its bureaucracy go on to Party or corporate careers.  Universities are tested with ‘satisfaction’ scores logged by student customers, not through educational attainment.  Many top administrators – professors, school heads, deans, chancellors – as he puts it:  “…lack the basic rudiments of a successful publication record.” 

Altogether a revealing read about academe from a left-wing psychologist. 

Other prior blog reviews on this topic, use blog search box, upper left:  “Psychology and Capitalism” (Roberts), “The University in Chains” (Giroux), “The Happiness Industry,” “Lost Connections” (Hari), “In and Out of the Working Class” (Yates), “A Marxist Education (Au),

And I bought it at May Day Books!

Red Frog

April 15, 2020

Due to the virus lockdown and a robbery, if you wish to get a book, please call ahead or knock vigorously and you ‘should’ be let in.