Qualitative Inquiry in Neoliberal Times (International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Series) - Softcover

Qualitative Inquiry in Neoliberal Times is an extremely important and necessary book in our current post-anthropocentric neoliberal condition, a circumstance in which a rhizomatic, immanent capitalism has changed everything. To quote Harry Torrance, author of chapter 5, "neo-liberalism already operates with a more sophisticated theory of change than empirical social science." The multiplicities, diversities, and unthought possibilities embedded within qualitative research serve as points from/through which this all invasive performance can hopefully be countered and challenged.

Gaile S. Cannella, Independent Critical Qualitative Research and Policy Studies Scholar and Research Professor at Arizona State University

Market based values permeate audit culture with its performance metrics that increasingly infiltrate higher education. This collection might help us negotiate what is already here with the threat of more to come if we recognize the stakes: the place of the university in the politics of knowledge and the forms of governmentality we will abide. We incalculable subjects have much work to do.

Patti Lather, Professor Emerita, Ohio State University. Author of (Post)Critical Methodologies: The Science Possible After the Critiques (Routledge, 2017)

Qualitative Inquiry in Neoliberal Times is written from the perspective that the scholarly lives of academics are changing, constantly in flux, and increasingly bound to the demands of the market – a context in which the university has increasingly morphed into a business enterprise, one that treats students as consumers to be marketed to, education as something to be purchased, and research as something to be capitalized on for financial gain. The effects of this market-orientation of scholarly life, especially on those in the social sciences and humanities, are ones that demand serious examination. At the same time, qualitative inquiry itself is changing and evolving within and against the rhythms of this ‘new normal’.

This volume engages with these emerging debates in qualitative research over new materialism, 'data', public policy, research ethics, public scholarship, and the corporate university in the neoliberal age. World-renowned contributors from the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand present a global perspective on these issues, framed within a landscape of higher education marked if not marred by efficiency metrics, accountability, external funding, and university rankings.

Qualitative Inquiry in Neoliberal Times is a must-read for faculty and students alike interested in the changing dynamics of their profession, whether theoretically, methodologically, or structurally and materially.

This title is sponsored by the International Association of Qualitative Inquiry, a major new international organization that sponsors an annual congress.