Differential and resonant solidarities: A materialist approach to the early career experience

Leicht, Caroline V; Bengtsson Meuller, Elsa; Borowetz, Taylor; Hiraide, Lydia; Pruszynski, Katie

Abstract

Navigating academia as early career academics (ECAs) is increasingly challenging, with many facing structural inequities, the rise of precarious work, and the increased marketisation of higher education in the United Kingdom and beyond. The purpose of this article is to provide a platform for learnings and insights gleaned from our experiences as five ECAs who worked together to lead the ‘early career network’ for a learned association between 2021 and 2023. In the article, we explore some of the challenges, opportunities, and call for actions that come out of our own encounters with the neoliberal higher education landscape as both students and workers in the social sciences. We propose a dual conceptualisation of solidarity as both resonant and differential, and mobilise this theoretical contribution to reflect on themes of community, materiality, care, knowledge, and labour as key strands which shape the interface between ECAs and complex higher education ecologies. Theoretically and practically, we aim to facilitate solidarity in early career communities, mobilising ‘ECA’ as more than a purely temporal category. Finally, we make recommendations to colleagues across the discipline for forging and nourishing collaborative, healthy, and inclusive environments in which ECAs can thrive.

Citation

Leicht, C. V., Bengtsson Meuller, E., Borowetz, T., Hiraide, L., & Pruszynski, K. (online). Differential and resonant solidarities: A materialist approach to the early career experience. Politics, https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957241280237

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Sep 24, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 5, 2024
• Journal: Politics
• Print ISSN: 0263-3957
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9256
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957241280237
• Keywords: community building, early career academia, higher education, solidarity, structural inequity
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02633957241280237