Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Labor Of Affordability: Are We Replacing One Inequitable System With Another?, Justin White

University Library Publications and Presentations

Textbook affordability has become a goal for a broad range of advocates of affordable higher education. It is seen as an achievable way to make a potentially huge impact. However, the labor required to implement textbook affordability is a major factor that often goes uncommented upon in discussions of barriers to this implementation, which often focus on a lack of funding or training. We should be aware that the same structures that determine how labor is rewarded or even acknowledged are still in place, and how our academic relations of production affect perception of both OER and the labor involved …