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The Making of the Academic Precariat: Labour Activism and Collective Identity-Formation among Precarious Researchers in Germany

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  • Aslı Vatansever

Abstract

This article investigates the political potency of ‘precarity’ as an organising axiom in contingent workers’ grassroots organisations. It studies a nationwide network of precarious researchers in Germany and deploys Frame Analysis to illuminate how the Network articulates diverse criticisms as parts of a coherent struggle against precarious academic work. Empirically, the article substantiates the postulate of ‘precarity as a mobilising source’ by depicting the construction of precarity on strategic, organisational and individual levels, drawing on protest campaigns, coordinative work and in-depth interviews, respectively. On a theoretical level, it contributes to the literature by proposing a refinement of the concept of ‘master frame’. Arguing that ‘precarity’ creates a broader class actor with branches in different sectors, to which the contingent academics link their struggle by derivatively describing themselves as the ‘ academic precariat’, the article proposes the novel category of ‘class-formative frame’ in difference to operational (diagnostic/prognostic) or relational (supportive/oppositional) frames.

Suggested Citation

  • Aslı Vatansever, 2023. "The Making of the Academic Precariat: Labour Activism and Collective Identity-Formation among Precarious Researchers in Germany," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(5), pages 1206-1225, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:5:p:1206-1225
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211069830
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