From key professionals to employees - are academics all together now?

Reflections on the academic profession are influenced by recent transformations in society, marked by the reconfiguration of the traditional models of the Welfare State and professional bureaucracies, and the narratives on knowledge society/economy within a neoliberal ideological context. This changed context carries challenges to the academic profession, and the notions of professionalization and professionalism. The academic profession has a central position in the system of professions, being classified as a key profession, its centrality being expected to be reinforced with the institutionalization of the knowledge society. However, the New Public Management and managerialism strategies and practices, especially concerning working conditions, are questioning this centrality and transforming academics from an elite to a workers’ category. This chapter reflects on these tendencies, assumed as de-professionalization or proletarianization processes, and argues that there are relevant differences within the group, increasingly segmented and stratified by New Public Management and managerialism.