Peter Fleming is a professor of management at the University of Technology Sydney, and also the author of several books. His recent works are Dark Academia: How Universities Die, Sugar Daddy Capitalism: The Dark Side of the New Economy, and The Death of Homo Economicus: Work, Debt and the Myth of Endless Accumulation.

Greg and Peter discuss doing critical theory inside business schools and how neoliberalism and managerialism have reshaped universities.

They also discuss the professionalization of higher education toward “employability,” driven by scarce public funding and human capital theory, which monetized expectations and intensified pressure, insecurity, and unhappiness. Peter suggests even executives face external constituent pressures. He explains his critique of Homo economicus as an extreme Cold War governance template that failed and contributed to “deaths of despair,” and he emphasizes rebuilding institutions by focusing on the labor problem and workplace conditions.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

How human capital theory killed academic wonder

14:01: When we go into the classrooms, we've still got that old idea of imparting critical reflexivity, imparting wonder in the world, whether it's in the sciences, humanities, business schools, and so forth. And we are confronting this very monetized, "No, I want a degree simply because it's going to make me more money." Now, I'm not saying that for all students, but that's the culture that's been encouraged, I think. And that derives from human capital theory because if you're paying for it as a student, then you need to, especially in the US with student loans and all of that, you know, which is just out of control at the moment, then you're going to want to see a return on your investment, to use the phraseology. So I think human capital theory has really reshaped the way in which we think about our lives, in many ways and many facets of society, including higher education. And it's quite sad really, isn't it? It's quite sad.

What does it really mean to become a manager?

45:00: When it comes to teaching students about what it will mean to be a manager, there's a couple of things I try to convey. The first thing is: don't think about becoming a manager. Think about when you're 70 years old and you're looking back on your life, are you going to say, "I made the right decision about what I chose to do for a living"? The worst thing would be to look back and go, "What a waste," and I'm only realizing it now towards the twilight of my years. So choose something that you love.

The painful implications of capitalism in crisis on the workers

50:04: The subject of the most painful implications of capitalism in crisis is the worker. And I think it's telling what you said earlier, that even tenured professors are feeling awful, right? Many of us can't understand why, but fearful. You know, we're in a well-paid job, security, but it feels like economic destitution is around the corner, which just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. And so I think that finding a way to unify that workforce that's been fragmented, differentiated, different interests, different pay rates, et cetera, et cetera. But dealing with the labor problem, I think, is the big one.

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