Dr Krista Bonello and Dr Lena Wånggren’s co-authored book Working Conditions in a Marketised University System: Generation Precarity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) was launched in the UK on 7 June 2024.
Dr Bonello, Research Support Officer (RSO) and UM visiting academic, and Dr Wånggren were invited to speak about their book at the University of Glasgow, by the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) Scotland, and the Glasgow Labour, Employment and Work (GLEW) Network. The authors were joined by discussants, including Niall Ingham from UCU Glasgow’s Anti-Casualisation Committee, and Cecile Menard from the University of Edinburgh, who responded to their presentation. This was followed by a Q&A.
The book provides an in-depth qualitative report on precariously employed academic staff in the UK, mapping shared experiences and strategies for resistance. Bringing together testimonial data spanning seven years, it offers evidence of how precarious labour conditions have persisted, shifted and intensified. The book is a valuable resource for students and scholars in the fields of education, human resources management, labour studies and sociology, as well as trade unionists and university policymakers.
The book has been described as: “a landmark book, dexterously weaving together careful empirical analysis and powerful political critique […] A game-changing contribution which should be compulsory reading for all those working – or struggling to work – in contemporary academia" (Maria do Mar Pereira, University of Warwick, UK); "a damning indictment of precarity in academia" (Ana Lopes, Newcastle University, UK); "essential reading for everyone interested in understanding – and transforming – unjust working conditions in education” (Maddie Breeze, Queen Margaret University, UK); "a must-read for anyone invested in the future of education" (Maria Brown, University of Malta, Malta). “Bonello’s and Wånggren’s super power is to make you see the invisibilised and hear the silenced" (Cecile Menard, University of Edinburgh, UK).
Dr Krista Bonello is an RSO with the Centre for Labour Studies, where her research focuses on work-related issues, and a Senior Visiting Lecturer with the Department of English at the University of Malta.
