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Values of the University in a Time of Uncertainty pp 125–135Cite as

Universities and Unpaid Work: Louis Althusser Re-visited

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Abstract

This chapter examines the practice of student work experience as a route into employment through the theoretical lens of Louis Althusser’s ideological state apparatuses. In particular, I focus on unpaid work experience which is compulsory or highly recommended, but not formally facilitated by the university. Work experience such as this raises a concern about the exploitative nature of unpaid work. I investigate to what extent such consideration is evident in the universities’ discourse of employability. Drawing on Althusser’s notion of ideological state apparatuses I pose the question whether the universities’ approach to employability, based on the values of individualism, can be held responsible for legitimising unpaid labour as a method of gaining access to paid employment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Sabina Siebert

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  1. Sabina Siebert
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Correspondence to Sabina Siebert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CERS, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Paul Gibbs  & Alex Elwick  & 

  2. University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Jill Jameson

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Siebert, S. (2019). Universities and Unpaid Work: Louis Althusser Re-visited. In: Gibbs, P., Jameson, J., Elwick, A. (eds) Values of the University in a Time of Uncertainty. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15970-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15970-2_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15969-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15970-2

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