The Prisoner’s Dilemma Revisited and Augmented - The Teacher as The Modern Sisyphus

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

The paper analyzes how globalization and the information revolution impose new ethical constraints on teachers and managerial pressures within the education industry. It frames the modern Sisyphus concept as a way to express teacher “burn-out,” “lagging behind,” and social-virtual mobbing, especially in universities. These dynamics push a systematic decline in the value of delivered services and the resulting human capital quality, demonstrated through a simulation using the classical Prisoner’s Dilemma game theory. The long-term effect may depreciate market signals from education providers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

Asian Journal ofDistance Education [http://www](http://www.AsianJDE.org)[.](http://www.AsianJDE.org)[AsianJDE](http://www.AsianJDE.org)[.](http://www.AsianJDE.org)[org](http://www.AsianJDE.org) © 2018 The Asian Society of Open and Distance Education ISSN 1347-9008 Asian J D E 2018 vol 13, no 2, pp 70-81 The Prisoner’s Dilemma Revisited and Augmented: The Teacher as The Modern Sisyphus Juan-Carlos HERKEN-KRAUER University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain [jcherken@gmail.com](jcherken@gmail.com | ORCID 0000-0002-7852-1610)[ | ORCID 0000-0002-7852-1610](jcherken@gmail.com | ORCID 0000-0002-7852-1610) Vukašin B. VASIĆ School of Economics, Belgrade, Serbia [vukasinbvasic@gmail.com](vukasinbvasic@gmail.com | ORCID 0000-0003-3717-9836)[ | ORCID 0000-0003-3717-9836](vukasinbvasic@gmail.com | ORCID 0000-0003-3717-9836)[ ](vukasinbvasic@gmail.com | ORCID 0000-0003-3717-9836)ABSTRACT: The new demands imposed upon the education industry world-wide by “globalization” and“information revolution” are analysed in this paper, centred on the ethical constraints surrounding the teacher, and the challenges facing management. The concept of the modern Sisyphus is presented herewith, to capture the “burn-out” pandemic, the “lagging behind” and the “social-virtual” mobbing pressures, of particular importance for universities. Both push the whole system to a systematic decline in the value of the services delivered, and hence the quality of the human capital absorbed by the students, as proved by a simulation using the classical game theory model of the Prisoner's Dilemma. Professors at the universities will give priority to their own survival, and collude with colleagues in order to escape the constraints imposed from above. This new modus operandi could, in the long term, depreciates the value of the signals given to the market by the education industry. Keywords: Education Industry, Teacher´s Ethical Constraints, Modern Sisyphus, Prisoner’s Dilemma, Management Options 1. INTRODUCTION : The “education industry” is undergoing sizeable changes, altering above all the standardised patterns of the relation teacher-student, teacher-institution, and student-institution. It has become an international industry, particularly at the university level, in the sense that almost every country has a share in it. However, it is also a “globalised” industry, or better,“in the process of being globalised”: There is growing exchange between the nations and aims and methods are becoming more and more homogeneous. There are, however, persistent “barriers to trade”, especially regarding the acceptance of diplomas and titles, as well as to the“internationalization” of the teaching staff. Furthermore,“world-rankings” of universities have become a powerful signal for the “export revenues” accruing to countries, and for the survival and expansion of institutions. Hence the renewed pressure on management, to improve on the “quality indicators”, which is then transferred to educators and students. ASIAN JOURNAL of DISTANCE EDUCATION Both now have to respond not only to national requirements, but also increasingly to international ones, which seem to be gaining the upper hand on the quality grading of the human capital being produced in the education industry. “Globalisation” and “information revolution” go together. The latter probably had a greater impact upon education than in most other sectors. Why? Simply because that industry can, to a large extent, be defined as a “transmitter”of information, in that specific category of“knowledge”. We define “knowledge” as that set of interrelated and verifiable items of information on a specific subject, which allows its possessor a thorough understanding of the issues, and the hence resulting praxis. The impact has many levels, and it has been studied elsewhere (Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy, 2004; Baumert and Kunter, 2006) . It suffices to say that it affects both the content, the volume and the availability

FAQs

How do globalization and the information revolution affect the education industry?

They reshape the education industry at the university level, making teacher-student and institutional relations more international and homogeneous while increasing pressure on quality indicators.

What is the “modern Sisyphus” concept used for in this paper?

It captures teacher burn-out, lagging behind, and social-virtual mobbing pressures, particularly relevant to universities.

How does the paper test the argument using game theory?

It uses a simulation based on the classical Prisoner’s Dilemma model to show how the incentives push actors toward behaviors that reduce service value and human capital quality.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran