[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595382-105":59,"doc-detail-595382-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","australian-universities-review-the-retreat-from-the-critical-social-science-research-in-the-corporatised-university","Australian Universities Review - The retreat from the critical - Social science research in the corporatised university","","The paper examines how neoliberalism and corporatisation reshape social science research in universities, shifting attention from critical, interrogative scholarship toward performative, market-aligned “inputs” such as grant income and consultancies. It argues that compliance cultures, entrepreneurial research, and technoscience funding incentives marginalise critical knowledge. It also describes mechanisms used to orchestrate research, including earmarked programmes, and highlights how underfunding drives universities into complicity with the new regime.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/australian-universities-review-the-retreat-from-the-critical-social-science-research-in-the-corporatised-university/595382/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/australian-universities-review-the-retreat-from-the-critical-social-science-research-in-the-corporatised-university/595382.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the paper describe the shift in what counts as research success?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It describes a move from “outputs” like publications toward “inputs” such as money received from grants and consultancies, which becomes the key criterion for attracting funding.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What role does neoliberalism play in transforming university social research?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It argues neoliberalism changes the value of social research toward its performative, income-generating capacity for market stakeholders, encouraging entrepreneurialism and privatisation of knowledge.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the paper say universities become complicit in the new regime?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It links complicity to grim financial realities and underfunding, stating that corporatisation, massification, and commodification are responses to funding shortfalls.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595382,1792171473,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":29,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W  \nThe retreat from the critical  \nSocial science research in the corporatised university  \nProfessor Margaret Thornton  \nThe commodification of research in the social sciences sees a focus on ‘inputs’rather than ‘outputs’and an emphasis on the ‘science’rather than the ‘social’. The empirical prevails at the expense of the critical, with lessening interest in, and support for, knowledge designed to interrogate orthodoxy. Increasingly, scholars have to operate in a government-created culture of compliance.  \nEditor’s note: Readers will be aware that since this paper was written, the change of federal government has resulted in modifications in some areas identified by the author, e.g. the RQF and Ministerial control/ intrusion in research grant processes.  \nThe New Environment  \nNeoliberalism has transformed the character of social research in universities, which is valued less for its contribution to scholarship than for its performative value.Within the market paradigm, it is its income-generating capacity and value to end-users that are most highly esteemed. Entrepreneurialismis a corollary of the neoliberal withdrawal of state support for public goods.This decline is marked in the United States, the UK and Canada, as well as Australia.The emphasis is now on shifting the cost to the end users of research, the consequences of which are profound. We are inevitably seeing a trend towards the privatisation of knowledge so that research,  \nlike education, becomes another commodity in the market.  \nIf private corporations fund research, the expectation is that they will be able to take out patents and capitalise on the findings.Technoscience is favoured as the most lucrative manifestation of academic capitalism (Slaughter and Leslie 1997) . Imagine the dollar signs flashing in VCs’ eyes at the thought of one of their researchers devising a cure for cancer! At the nation state level, it is hoped that the overall effect of harnessing the total research effort will augment the GNP and enhance Australia’s status as a New Knowledge economy on the world stage. Knowledge has replaced sheep and wool as a source of wealth but, according to the corporatised university,  \nacademics, like sheep, require careful management to get the best out of them.  \nThe orchestration of research through a range of mechanisms is a notable characteristic of the neoliberal transformation of universities. Government is the driver and substantial funds have been injected into earmarked research as a stimulant. High profile programmes, such as the ARC Australian Federation Fellowships, have been established to encourage and retain the best and brightest researchers. However, such initiatives deflect attention away from the massive under-funding of the less glamorous everyday operations and infrastructural requirements. The fact that government-funded university operating grants have dropped from approximately 87 to 37 per cent in 20 years illustrates the point.  \nIt is this grim financial reality that has compelled universities to become complicit in the new regime. Corporatisation, massification and commodification are all responses by universities to the funding shortfall. I focus on one facet of this mosaic − the commodification of research in social sciences, although much of what I have to say applies across the board.  \nResearch entrepreneurialism  \nIn accordance with the prevailing market ideology, research is now an ‘investment’ opportunity, rather than a social good.  \nvol. 50, no. 1, 2008 The retreat from the critical, Margaret Thornton 5  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W  \nIndeed, the institutional focus of research is no longer on ‘outputs’, that is, publications, so much as on ‘inputs’, that is, the money received from grants and consultancies in order to conduct the research in the first place. The money generated to conduct the research is the most significant criterion","cbCaihwSVHnLNYqM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihwSVHnLNYqM","pdf",121240,"English","# The retreat from the critical\n## The new environment\n## Research entrepreneurialism","[{\"question\":\"How does the paper describe the shift in what counts as research success?\",\"answer\":\"It describes a move from “outputs” like publications toward “inputs” such as money received from grants and consultancies, which becomes the key criterion for attracting funding.\"},{\"question\":\"What role does neoliberalism play in transforming university social research?\",\"answer\":\"It argues neoliberalism changes the value of social research toward its performative, income-generating capacity for market stakeholders, encouraging entrepreneurialism and privatisation of knowledge.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper say universities become complicit in the new regime?\",\"answer\":\"It links complicity to grim financial realities and underfunding, stating that corporatisation, massification, and commodification are responses to funding shortfalls.\"}]","Australian Universities Review - The retreat from the critical - Social science research in the corporatised university | PDF",1792081035,15]