Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Culture and Organization on 08/11/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14759551.2017.1386190
Accepted author manuscript, 370 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Living on the Edge?
T2 - Professional Anxieties at Work in Academia and Veterinary Practice
AU - Knights, David
AU - Clarke, Caroline
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Culture and Organization on 08/11/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14759551.2017.1386190
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Through empirical research on academics and veterinary surgeons, this paper focuses on identity and how it is reflected in, and reproduced by, anxiety and insecurity at work. Through three analytical themes: perfection, performativity and commodified service, we explore how these professions experience a loss of autonomy as they are subjected to competitive market forces as well as an intensification of masculine managerial controls of assessment, audit and accountability. We see these pressures and their effects as reflecting a commodification of service provision where the consumer (student or client) begins to redefine the relationship between those offering some expertise and those who are its recipients, partly achieved through the performative gaze of constant and visible rating mechanisms. Our empirical research also identifies sources of anxiety concerns in their attempts to achieve perfection against this background of uncertain knowledge and precarious contexts of enacting professional expertise.
AB - Through empirical research on academics and veterinary surgeons, this paper focuses on identity and how it is reflected in, and reproduced by, anxiety and insecurity at work. Through three analytical themes: perfection, performativity and commodified service, we explore how these professions experience a loss of autonomy as they are subjected to competitive market forces as well as an intensification of masculine managerial controls of assessment, audit and accountability. We see these pressures and their effects as reflecting a commodification of service provision where the consumer (student or client) begins to redefine the relationship between those offering some expertise and those who are its recipients, partly achieved through the performative gaze of constant and visible rating mechanisms. Our empirical research also identifies sources of anxiety concerns in their attempts to achieve perfection against this background of uncertain knowledge and precarious contexts of enacting professional expertise.
KW - Academics
KW - anxiety
KW - commodified service
KW - professionals
KW - perfection
KW - performativity
KW - vets
U2 - 10.1080/14759551.2017.1386190
DO - 10.1080/14759551.2017.1386190
M3 - Journal article
VL - 24
SP - 134
EP - 153
JO - Culture and Organization
JF - Culture and Organization
SN - 1475-9551
IS - 2
ER -