The ‘unavoidable antagonism’ in the ‘academic labour process’: Theorising labour-management relations within academic settings with Marx and the Labour Process Theory

Abstract

Research management has not been properly conceptualised in the literature addressing the so-called academic labour process. This renders impossible a comprehension of the research-intensive parts of the academic production process in connection with the general determinants of the capitalist relations of production. To address this gap, this paper problematises research management from a Marxist perspective. After presenting the relevant evidence concerning the ‘industrialisation of academic research’, it elaborates on the necessity of capitalist control by drawing on Marx and the Labour Process Theory. This theoretical framework is mobilised in order to cast new light on the realities of research-intensive academic workplaces that remain under-theorised, with a particular emphasis on laboratory/group leaders’ ‘right to manage’. The ultimate purpose of this paper is to lay the groundwork for more rigorous Marxist analyses on the academic labour process that place the ‘unavoidable antagonism’ (Marx dixit) between academic workers and academic managers at the centre of the inquiry.