This volume employs a case study approach grounded in Critical Discourse Analysis to explore the myriad ways in which the work of academics are constructed as distinct from ordinary labor and their impact on shaping discussions of labor in the American higher education landscape. The book begins by examining the literature detailing this perceived shift in academic labor toward greater corporatization and situates the discussion in a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to demonstrate the ways in which language and discourse are shaped and shaped by social practices in academia. Through this methodological and theoretical framework, the book looks at a variety of sites where academic labor is constructed in the popular consciousness, including press accounts of academic work, the unionization struggles of graduate students, the increasing invisibility of adjunct lecturers, and the resistance to the unionization of student athletes, to elucidate in detail the means and conditions by which cognitive labor is narrowly defined and subsequently denied. This book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in communication, applied linguistics, cultural studies, educational policy, rhetoric and composition, and Critical Discourse Studies.
