Joy and Guilt, Passion and Anxiety. Exploring Emotions in the Neoliberal Academia

Camilla Gaiaschi; Rossella Ghigi; Valeria Quaglia

doi:10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21823

Authors

Camilla Gaiaschi Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-9529

Camilla Gaiaschi is a senior Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Salento (Italy), where she teaches Sociology of Gender and serves as a member of the PhD board in Human and Social Sciences. Her research interests include gender inequalities in the labor market — particularly within scientific professions and academia — university transformations, academic precariousness, gender and science, feminist epistemology and theory, as well as gender-oriented welfare policies. She has published in several national and international journals, Gender, Work and Organization and Social Forces. Her latest book is Doppio Standard. Donne e carriere scientifiche nell’Italia contemporanea (Carocci, 2022).
Rossella Ghigi Department of Education Studies "Giovanni Maria Bertin", University of Bologna https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4893-7815
Rossella Ghigi is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Head of the Centre for Gender and Education Studies (CSGE) at the University of Bologna (Italy). She is a member of the PhD board in Sociology and Social Research Methodology at the Universities of Milan and Turin. She teaches in BA and MA programmes and has published monographs and articles in national and international journals on gender role socialization, body modification practices, feminist theory, intersectional inequalities, and access to reproductive rights. Her last book is Body and Gender. Sociological Perspectives (with Roberta Sassatelli, Polity Press, 2024).
Valeria Quaglia Department of Education Studies "Giovanni Maria Bertin", University of Bologna https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8068-729X

Valeria Quaglia is a medical sociologist and Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in General Sociology at the University of Bologna (Italy). She teaches Sociology of Education and Sociology of Welfare and Social Policies. Her research focuses on illness narratives, chronic illness, aging, digital health, and gender perspectives on health and illness. She is the author of Wounded Masculinities: Men, Health, and Chronic Illness (Palgrave, 2023) and has also published several peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in collective works. She is a member of the board of ESA RN16 and is a member of AIS and ESHMS.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21823

Keywords:

Emotions, Academia, Neoliberalism, Gender, Work

Abstract

In this introduction to the Symposium on Emotions in Academic Work, we explore key reflections on emotion work, emotional labour, and feeling rules within contemporary academia, in light of the transformations brought about by the neoliberal reconfiguration of academic labour. Topics such as academic guilt, stress, time management, as well as joy and satisfaction, are examined through a gendered and intersectional lens.

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Joy and Guilt, Passion and Anxiety. Exploring Emotions in the Neoliberal Academia

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