Law Commons^™

A Critical View Of Graduate Unions, Deeb Paul Kitchen Ii

Societies Without Borders

Institutions of higher education increasingly focus on their economic functions and have adopted labor force practices that resemble private businesses. One such strategy is a greater reliance on employing graduate students to perform tasks previously done by faculty. Simultaneously, graduate employees have organized labor unions and pushed for rights and benefits other organized workers have sought. This is a practice that should be of concern to human rights sociologists, lest we neglect to critically reflect on the social relations that our work is embedded within, thereby damaging our abilities to champion the oppressed. This case study examines how graduate labor …