Taylor & Francis Inc Lives of Campus Custodians: Insights into Corporatization and Civic Disengagement in the Academy

The voices of real workers punctuate this accessible ethnographic study of the subculture of custodians and janitors at two higher education institutions. The study demonstrates that custodians are a caring community and reveals the daily lives, attitudes, hopes, resilience, and responsibilities of custodians. Those interviewed shed light on life hardships such as teen pregnancy and low pay and explain how they cope with their marginalization and invisibility. The book seeks to critique the trend toward corporatization and corporate managerialism in higher education. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of labor, sociology, and occupations higher education. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com) This unique study uncovers the lives and working conditions of a group of individuals who are usually rendered invisible on college campuses, the custodians who daily clean the offices, residence halls, bathrooms and public spaces. In doing so it also reveals universities’ equally invisible practices that frequently contradict their espoused values of inclusion and equity, and their profession that those on the margins are important members of the campus community.This vivid ethnography is the fruit of the year’s fieldwork that Peter Magolda’s undertook at two universities. His purpose was to shine a light on a subculture that neither decision-makers nor campus community members know very much about, let alone understand the motivations and aspirations of those who perform this work; and to pose fundamental questions about the moral implications of the corporatization of higher education and its impact on its lowest paid and most vulnerable employees.Working alongside and learning about the lives of over thirty janitorial staff, Peter Magolda becomes privy to acts of courage, resilience, and inspiration, as well as witness to their work ethic, and to instances of intolerance, inequity, and injustices. We learn the stories of remarkable people, and about their daily concerns, their fears and contributions.Peter Magolda raises such questions as: Does the academy still believe wisdom is exclusive to particular professions or classes of people? Are universities really inclusive? Is addressing service workers’ concerns part of the mission of higher education? If universities profess to value education, why make it difficult for those on the margins, such as custodians, to “get educated.” Autorid: Peter M. Magolda