Breaking isolation: Consciousness-raising as a methodology for academic activism

In this essay we argue that one way to combat the depressing creep of the neoliberal university is to recuperate and re-use consciousness raising (CR) in teaching, administration, research, and engagement. Consciousness-raising can be roughly characterised as first, an apprehending of one’s place in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organization (London, England) Vol. 30; no. 5; pp. 1152 - 1167
Main Authors: McCarthy, Lauren, Grosser, Kate
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2023
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:
Activism
Business schools
Consciousness
Dominance
Feminism
Individualism
Intersectionality
Neoliberalism
Social change
Social development
Social justice
Teaching
feminism
consciousness-raising
Academic activism
intersectionality
ISSN:1350-5084, 1461-7323
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this essay we argue that one way to combat the depressing creep of the neoliberal university is to recuperate and re-use consciousness raising (CR) in teaching, administration, research, and engagement. Consciousness-raising can be roughly characterised as first, an apprehending of one’s place in a system, and second, feeling inspired to do something about that system. We propose that CR is an especially helpful way to think about our work in contexts where more structural changes to advance social justice agendas appear to have stalled, or even to have taken a step backwards. There may be potential to co-opt the increasing dominance of individualism in our worlds, by revisiting the role that individual reflection and development plays in social change, as conceptualised within CR. Through examples drawn from our own experiences, we demonstrate how CR happens in our day-to-day interactions, reigniting a sense of meaning in our working lives whilst potentially creating ripples of positive change. We thus call not just for revisiting, but also for reconceptualising and reframing CR rooted in feminist and intersectional praxis as a methodology for academic activism in the contemporary business school.
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ISSN:1350-5084
1461-7323
DOI:10.1177/13505084231166172