Introduction

Abstract

The essays in our book address trends in the US, EU and Canada that indicate the strengthening of the academic capitalist knowledge/learning regime over time (Slaughter and Leslie 1997; Slaughter and Rhoades 2004; Slaughter and Cantwell 2012). In our initial formulation of academic capitalism (1997), we defined academic capitalism as institutional and professional market or market-like efforts to secure external monies. As with capitalism and profit, competition was the key to universities’ success in generating external resources. As theory (Slaughter and Rhoades 2004; Slaughter and Cantwell 2012), academic capitalism teases out the ways in which new institutional and organizational arrangements made possible by neoliberal states enable new linkages among state agencies, corporations, foundations and universities that create opportunities for non-market entities, such as universities and foundations, to move toward the market. Segments of all sectors—state agencies, nonprofit entities including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), corporations and universities—are involved. Universities are not simply acted upon by outside forces. Segments of the university, including some faculty, administrators, and students, embrace market activity (Fourcade and Khurana 2013; Grewal and Purdy 2014), while other segments are resistant or neglected (Rosinger et al., in press).