How the University Works

As much as we think we know about the modern university, very little has been said about what it's like to work there. Instead of the high-wage, high-profit world of “knowledge work,” most campus employees - including the vast majority of faculty - really work in the low-wage, low-profit sphere of the service economy. Tenure-track positions are at an all-time low, with adjuncts and graduate students teaching the majority of courses. This super-exploited corps of disposable workers commonly earn fewer than $16,000 annually, without benefits, teaching as many as eight classes per year. Even undergraduates are being exploited as a low-cost, disposable workforce.