Free and servants: Unveiling psychological dynamics around organizing academic freedom

Abstract

This study investigates the erosion of academic freedom in neoliberal universities, focusing on the concept of “voluntary servitude” as a mechanism through which academics actively, albeit unconsciously, contribute to their own subjugation. Moving beyond an individual perspective, the work examines how shared affective dynamics, such as collusion, perpetuate this condition. Drawing on a qualitative study with Italian academics in the WOP field, the findings reveal that freedom is often perceived as the absence of constraints: a personal privilege attained through career progression. Three pathways to so-called “emancipation” emerge: the gift, betrayal, and merit. These patterns take the form of pathological collusion that reinforces servitude by satisfying needs for recognition and protection, while obscuring structural inequalities and the erosion of the common good. The study argues that one way forward lies in collective reflexivity, a practice that enables the recognition and transformation of such dysfunctional patterns. The aim is to reimagine academic freedom not as an individual achievement but as a “freedom with,” grounded in shared responsibility, interdependence, and plurality, thereby transcending neoliberal paradigms.