938: Exploring Organizational Processes that Enable Contrapower Harassment in Academia (21361)

This paper investigates the phenomenon of 'contrapower harassment' in UK higher education sector where students exert undue influence and hostility towards their educators. The research examines how neoliberal ideologies and the commodification of education have led to a shift in the power dynamics, enabling such harassment. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with faculty members from various UK universities, the study uncovers the various forms and impacts of this harassment, and importantly identifies the key institutional processes embedded in the UK higher education system that facilitate it. The findings also illustrate how academics and university staff accommodate this new power relations and hostile work environment. This study contributes to the discourse on the challenges faced by academics in a neoliberal educational environment and provides rich empirical insight into a growing, yet rarely-discussed aspect of academic life. These insights are important at a time when university claim academic well-being while undermining it in practice.

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