Between luck and stigma: gendered experiences of precarity in higher education in the UK and the US

Abstract

Through a phenomenological research design, this study explores experiences of precarity among early-career academics in the UK and the USA higher education sectors. These contexts, while similar, exhibit structural differences as pioneers of neoliberalization in the Global North. Conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 early-career academics in both contexts, the study delves into shared and distinct experiences of precarity, manifesting in unstable working conditions, uncertain futures, and competitive job markets dominated by temporary positions. The findings illuminate the role of emotions and gendered experiences in navigating precarity. Accordingly, informants in both contexts expressed being lucky to have academic positions even when they are temporary ones embedded in gendered hierarchies, while informants in the USA further highlighted being stigmatized. The study argues that the experiences of precarity unsettle meritocratic ideals in both cases, whereby individual success and achievements become irrelevant and excluded, and gendered inequalities are overshadowed.