As Cory Doctorow, who coined the word, pointed out enshittification is a byproduct of financialization plus rent extraction. It is destructive, but also dangerous because it is an unintended (uncontrolled) consequence.
Would add another contributing factor: deregulation. Which preceded from years of strategic dismantling of belief in government - stripping off funding for enforcement. Systemic movement over decades.
Looking back at that crumbled bridge as it washes down river, the question I have is whether institutions can be reconstructed on this side such that people can get a living wage to stare into the void and think slowly about what it means. I have a bunch of intuitions and biased beliefs about why the research university has been a good deal for the public. Not sure any of it matters, but also don’t see anything likely to come along to replace either its graduate education or its research function.
Yeah, the financialization (is that a word? Should be) of our university system made it a crumbling wall, and Trump is a wrecking ball slamming into it. Add the demographic dip of declining student population and it starts looking like a question of when, not if the whole thing reverts to its old job of a finishing school for the elite class and a trade school for bureaucracy drones.
What has weakened over the past 15-20 years or so is collapsing in the face of someone who will do the work of the barbarians with impunity. I was in a smaller, weaker field, and this is what happened. (Ultimately the school is now a few online classes with no faculty or administration of its own, run by another school).
Thanks for sharing this. I have a lot of the same concerns about teaching this fall. Typically, my first lecture in Intro to US Politics would be about the rule of law as the foundation of democracy. The semester is a week away and I'm not sure I can give that lecture. I'm not sure I could get through it without crying.
The tools have to change, not the intent of exposing the despotic tendencies of those who have wormed their way into power. Ridicule still works because the target isn't the narcissist at the center, its the glassy-eyed people bowing to him - if they can be reached. And that is where the tools must change to whatever their language is. Thanks for teaching the basics so that when this insane bubble bursts there will be people prepared to tell the truth.
Intellectual honesty, whether slow or at another pace, is as gratifying as it is in short supply. Dave's stans, once you mull this over completely, share this in the service of raising others' games. Thank you Dave (aka my favorite bedbug) for putting it all down in print for the public beyond the classroom. Hear our thunderous applause.
I’m imagining a world where Anonymous, the hacker collective, hacks into the ICE system and merges the “agents’ names and addresses” database with the “people to be arrested and deported without trial” database.
You don’t beat an authoritarian system by playing within its rules. You have to find ways to make it eat itself through its rules.
Affecting essay Dave, thanks for sharing. I do think the nature and purpose of universities will have to change if we survive American fascism. The dedication you've shown to educating your students needs to be shared across all institutions.
We are living through the enshittification of everything.
As Cory Doctorow, who coined the word, pointed out enshittification is a byproduct of financialization plus rent extraction. It is destructive, but also dangerous because it is an unintended (uncontrolled) consequence.
Would add another contributing factor: deregulation. Which preceded from years of strategic dismantling of belief in government - stripping off funding for enforcement. Systemic movement over decades.
Looking back at that crumbled bridge as it washes down river, the question I have is whether institutions can be reconstructed on this side such that people can get a living wage to stare into the void and think slowly about what it means. I have a bunch of intuitions and biased beliefs about why the research university has been a good deal for the public. Not sure any of it matters, but also don’t see anything likely to come along to replace either its graduate education or its research function.
I think it can, someday. But that day is very far away I’m afraid.
Ultimately, we are all going to have to restructure the whole enterprise. It will take time and it will look different.
Yeah, the financialization (is that a word? Should be) of our university system made it a crumbling wall, and Trump is a wrecking ball slamming into it. Add the demographic dip of declining student population and it starts looking like a question of when, not if the whole thing reverts to its old job of a finishing school for the elite class and a trade school for bureaucracy drones.
What has weakened over the past 15-20 years or so is collapsing in the face of someone who will do the work of the barbarians with impunity. I was in a smaller, weaker field, and this is what happened. (Ultimately the school is now a few online classes with no faculty or administration of its own, run by another school).
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/nyregion/labor-dispute-leaves-professors-jobless.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ak8.BuWo.AABVq7yNMGij&smid=url-share
Thanks for sharing this. I have a lot of the same concerns about teaching this fall. Typically, my first lecture in Intro to US Politics would be about the rule of law as the foundation of democracy. The semester is a week away and I'm not sure I can give that lecture. I'm not sure I could get through it without crying.
The tools have to change, not the intent of exposing the despotic tendencies of those who have wormed their way into power. Ridicule still works because the target isn't the narcissist at the center, its the glassy-eyed people bowing to him - if they can be reached. And that is where the tools must change to whatever their language is. Thanks for teaching the basics so that when this insane bubble bursts there will be people prepared to tell the truth.
Intellectual honesty, whether slow or at another pace, is as gratifying as it is in short supply. Dave's stans, once you mull this over completely, share this in the service of raising others' games. Thank you Dave (aka my favorite bedbug) for putting it all down in print for the public beyond the classroom. Hear our thunderous applause.
Ouch
I’m imagining a world where Anonymous, the hacker collective, hacks into the ICE system and merges the “agents’ names and addresses” database with the “people to be arrested and deported without trial” database.
You don’t beat an authoritarian system by playing within its rules. You have to find ways to make it eat itself through its rules.
Gah. You are teaching conclusions not thought. Imo you demonstrate what’s wrong with academia.
Affecting essay Dave, thanks for sharing. I do think the nature and purpose of universities will have to change if we survive American fascism. The dedication you've shown to educating your students needs to be shared across all institutions.