Academic Capitalism

"In their fascinating study of public research universities, Slaughter and Leslie . . . affirm that tertiary education in the U.S. as well as in Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, especially since 1970, has merged with the marketplace, a development that alarms many as a kind of academic prostitution . . . This well-written book is must reading for anyone, lay or professional, seriously interested in the future of higher education."—Choice

"The authors conclude that a better understanding of academic capitalism will foster and empower successful academic capitalists. However, they view with regret the demise of the concept of the university as a community in which the individual members are oriented primarily toward the greater good of the organization . . . The book provides a valuable overview of the globalization of the political economy."—Jann Contento, Education Review

"Research has become an indispensable commodity for modern society, and academic researchers are the new superstars and entrepreneurs—with incomes to match. Not since Clark Kerr's landmark Uses of the University has any book beamed such an exposing light on this dark, neglected development, which is transforming campus teaching and administration. Slaughter and Leslie have pierced the smoke surrounding the tweedy knowledge factories of post-industrial capitalism."—George Keller, author of Academic Strategy: The Management Revolution in American Higher Education