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The relationship between freelancers and publications as described in this piece by @SilvermanJacob are identical, and I mean identical to the relationship between adjuncts and higher ed institutions. newrepublic.com/article/153744… /thread
The most obvious connection is that both institutions rely on the precariat (freelancers/adjuncts) to stay in operations. Without these highly qualified, skillful practitioners, the larger institutions could not function.
Next, there is little to distinguish those on the "right" side of the equation to the others. Both freelancers and adjuncts have the requisite skills, training, and experience to be full-fledged employees, but they are not given that status.
The emotional reality of the freelancer and the adjunct is identical. A byline in a prominent place is enough to make one believe that the balance could tip toward security in the future. For an adjunct, there is always the next job cycle.
The inherent pleasures that keep people tied to the work are the same. Writing when one is good at it as these folks are is a great pleasure, and we feel lucky to get paid anything. The day-to-day work of teaching is the most rewarding work I've ever done. It's hard to give up.
Still more: Those who have fallen on the right side of the divide may be sympathetic to the plight of those of us on the wrong side, but very few are inclined to address the conditions of those on the wrong side in tangible ways. There are shrugs of sympathy, but not much else.
Those on the right side of the divide also seem largely blind to the reality that the treatment of those on the wrong side is also degrading their work and potential pleasure it that work. The prevalence of adjunct faculty make tenured faculty jobs harder.
The presence of the precariat also makes those on the right side of the divide significantly more malleable when it comes to being manipulated or exploited by those above. After all, there's further they can fall. Do they really want to challenge the status quo?
And finally, without a doubt. The existence of the precariat threatens the ongoing existence of the larger institution. It may be a slow death, but it's a certain death.
For yrs I was both freelancer and contingent faculty & combined they added up to a decent living (50-60k/yr), but like @SilvermanJacob, it was a living only made possible by being partnered to a well-employed person. I was paid 25k/yr to teach college full-time. That's fucked up.
I now have a job that utilizes my skills as a freelancer and teacher that pays several times that past total and still leaves time for writing. My advice to @SilvermanJacob, take the WeWork gig (or whatever), and don't look back until you have a chance to say I told you so.
Just one more comparison. I write a weekly column for one of the biggest newspapers in the country and am happy to have it, but 30 years ago this could've been my only job, and if it was syndicated, I'd be legit rich. Now, I'd be marginally above poverty levels.
You can see this thread converted to blog form, with extra depressing bonus material! insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
