Shaping for Mediocrity – The Book

Date of Publication: August 2024

 
‚Shaping for Mediocrity was written in the aftermath of a seven-month struggle against mass redundancies at the University of Leicester in 2021, a struggle which saw 145 employees targeted and an eventual exodus from the university that likely exceeded 200. The book’s authors were all involved in that dispute in the most intimate way – we were amongst those being made redundant, in our case from the university’s School of Business. We have written the book as part of an effort to make sense of the struggle, to understand the reasons why we lost. It was written partly for ourselves – an act of catharsis, a search for closure. It was also written for the wider world, for those who care about universities and perhaps especially those who labour within them, to hopefully offer lessons that might inform them in their own conflicts against the powers that ultimately defeated us. In this sense, our book is not merely about the redundancy struggle, it is a part of redundancy struggles. In this sense too, our book is less about closure, than about seeking to open up, to make possible other outcomes.‘ (From the Preface)
 

 

Book Reviews

Stephen Dunne (2024): The improprietorial pentagram. Shaping for mediocrity: universities and the cancellation of critical thinking, by Gibson Burrell, Ronald Hartz, David Harvie, Geoffrey Lightfoot, and Simon Lilley. In: Consumption Markets and Culture, 1-3.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2024.2435665

Yiannis Gabriel (2025): Tough cookies in UK universities. In: Organization Studies, First published online February 5, 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406251321610; http://www.yiannisgabriel.com/2025/02/tough-cookies-in-uk-universities.html

Dennis Tourish (2025): Shaping for Mediocrity: The Cancellation of Critical Thinking at our Universities. In: Prometheus. Critical Studies in Innovation, 40(2), 113-116.

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/Prometheus.40.2.0113

Véronique Ambrosini (2025): Shaping for Mediocrity: The Cancellation of Critical Thinking at our Universities. In: Academy of Management Learning & Education. First published online May 19, 2025.

https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amle.2025.0059

Steven Brown (2025, June 10): Shaping for Mediocrity by Gibson Burrell and friends [Online]. The Sociological Review Magazine.

https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.ricp9596

 

Events / Book Launches

20/09/2024 – Resisting Mediocrity, Remaking the University

Housmans (King’s Cross), London, UK (https://housmans.com/event/resisting-mediocrity-remaking-the-university/)

24/10/2024 – Resisting Mediocrity
 
06/11/2024 – Resisting Mediocrity, Remaking the University
 

05/02/2025 – The Baltic Sessions – Resisting Mediocrity, Remaking the University, Newcastle, UK. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-baltic-sessions-resisting-mediocrity-remaking-the-university-tickets-1151376370719?aff=erelexpmlt)

17/02/2025 – Rubicund Books, Falmouth, UK.

05/03/2025 – COVER Research Centre, University of Essex, UK. (Online) (https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/2025/03/05/shaping-for-mediocrity)

A record of the research seminar is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT_-plbuUnw&t=1s

12/03/2025 – Bookhaus, Bristol, UK. (https://www.bookhausbristol.com/events/#e120718)

04/06/2026 – OWT research seminar, Lancaster University Management School. (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/research/events/shaping-for-mediocrity-the-cancellation-of-critical-thinking-at-our-universities/)

 

More information and book order: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/shaping-for-mediocrity