http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8607 Known as Brunel Business School until 2024/25 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:15:27 GMT 2026-03-27T00:15:27Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33033 Title: Türkiye'de Bilimsel İcracılığın Eleştirel Çözümlemesi: Kamuya Bilgi Üreten Akademiden Rekabetçi Akademiye Dönüşüm Authors: Yalkın, Ç; Özbilgin, MF Abstract: Neoliberal dönüşümün Türkiye’deki akademik kurumlar üzerindeki etkilerini ve bilimsel icracılığın kırılgan gruplar üzerindeki sonuçlarını eleştirel bir biçimde inceleyen bu makalede Karl Polanyi’nin fiktif meta, çözülme ve değer kavramları çerçevesinde, akademik emeğin piyasa odaklı performans ölçütleri aracılığıyla metalaştırılması tartışılmaktadır. Çalışma, icracılığın bilgi üretimini toplumsal fayda yerine rekabetçi endeksler ve atıf kültürü üzerinden değerlendirdiğini; bu durumun akademisyenler arasında bireyselleşme, motivasyon eksikliği, mesleki tatminsizlik ve tükenmişlik yarattığını ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca, akademideki icracı dönüşümün kırılgan grupları daha savunmasız hale getirdiği ve üniversitelerin toplumsal rollerinden uzaklaşarak giderek daha fazla piyasa aktörleri gibi işlediği ileri sürülmektedir. Sonuç olarak, toplumsal dayanışmayı ve kamusal bilgi üretimini önceleyen alternatif değer sistemlerinin geliştirilmesi gerektiği savunulmakta; akademik performans değerlendirme sistemlerinin daha kapsayıcı, adil ve toplum yararına odaklanacak şekilde yeniden yapılandırılması önerilmektedir. Bu makale, neoliberal dönüşümün Türkiye’deki akademik kurumlar üzerindeki etkilerini ve bilimsel icracılığın kırılgan gruplar üzerindeki sonuçlarını eleştirel bir biçimde incelemektedir. Karl Polanyi’nin fiktif meta, çözülme ve değer kavramları çerçevesinde, akademik emeğin piyasa odaklı performans ölçütleri aracılığıyla metalaştırılması tartışılmaktadır. Çalışma, icracılığın bilgi üretimini toplumsal fayda yerine rekabetçi endeksler ve atıf kültürü üzerinden değerlendirdiğini; bu durumun akademisyenler arasında bireyselleşme, motivasyon eksikliği, mesleki tatminsizlik ve tükenmişlik yarattığını ortaya koymaktadır. Ayrıca, akademideki icracı dönüşümün kırılgan grupları daha savunmasız hale getirdiği ve üniversitelerin toplumsal rollerinden uzaklaşarak giderek daha fazla piyasa aktörleri gibi işlediği ileri sürülmektedir. Sonuç olarak, toplumsal dayanışmayı ve kamusal bilgi üretimini önceleyen alternatif değer sistemlerinin geliştirilmesi gerektiği savunulmakta; akademik performans değerlendirme sistemlerinin daha kapsayıcı, adil ve toplum yararına odaklanacak şekilde yeniden yapılandırılması önerilmektedir.; This article critically examines the impacts of neoliberal transformation on academic institutions in Turkey and the consequences of scientific performativity on vulnerable groups. Within the framework of Karl Polanyi’s concepts of fictitious commodity, disembedding, and value, the commodification of academic labor through market-oriented performance criteria is discussed. The study demonstrates that performativity evaluates knowledge production not in terms of social benefit but through competitive indexes and citation culture, thereby generating individualization, lack of motivation, professional dissatisfaction, and burnout among academics. Furthermore, it is argued that the performative transformation in academia renders vulnerable groups even more defenseless, while universities operate increasingly like market actors, distancing themselves from their social role. Ultimately, the article contends that alternative value systems prioritizing social solidarity and public knowledge production must be developed, and proposes that academic performance evaluation systems be restructured in a more inclusive, equitable, and socially oriented manner. Description: Extended Abstract: Background & Purpose: This paper critically examines the rise and diffusion of scientific performativity (bilimsel icracılık) within Turkish academia, situating it in the broader context of neoliberal transformations of higher education. Drawing on Karl Polanyi’s concepts of fictitious commodity, disembedding, and value (Polanyi, 1944; 1986), the study argues that academic labor has increasingly been commodified through market-driven performance criteria such as publication counts, citation indexes, and global rankings (YÖK, 2024a; 2024b). These metrics, while promoted as tools of accountability, efficiency, and competitiveness (Jones et al., 2020), have restructured universities into market-oriented institutions (Fleming, 2021; Mintz, 2021) and exacerbated pressures on academics. In particular, vulnerable groups—those already disadvantaged by socio-economic, political, cultural, or technological inequalities (Meliou et al., 2024)—face intensified marginalization under such systems. The purpose of the study is to illuminate how performativity reshapes knowledge production in Turkey, replacing social benefit with competitive measurement, and to explore its consequences for both institutional practices and academic subjectivities (Tülübaş and Göktürk, 2020). Research Method: The paper employs a critical conceptual and theoretical analysis rather than empirical fieldwork. It systematically reviews literature on performativity in academia (Spicer et al., 2016; Roberts, 2007), neoliberal higher education reforms (Teelken, 2015; Gendron, 2008), and Polanyian political economy (Thomasberger, 2020), integrating them to build a framework for analyzing the Turkish case. Sources include both Turkish and international scholarship (Ünal, 2017; Yılmaz and Memişoğlu, 2019) as well as national policy reports from the Council of Higher Education (YÖK, 2024a; 2024b). Through these sources, the paper assesses how global neoliberal logics become localized within Turkey’s higher education sector through performance evaluation systems, index-based promotion criteria, and university–industry linkages (Mammadov and Aypay, 2020; Vatansever and Gezici Yalçın, 2018). By using Polanyi’s notions of fictitious commodity and disembedding, the study highlights how knowledge and academic labor are detached from their social context and reduced to market instruments (Haiven, 2023; Aslan, 2014). The method is thus an interdisciplinary critical synthesis that combines political economy, sociology of education, and organizational studies. Conclusion: The study concludes that the neoliberal turn in Turkish higher education has produced a performativity culture where universities operate increasingly like market actors, prioritizing quantifiable outputs over public value (Garipagaoglu and Ozden, 2015; Selekler-Goksen and Oba, 2018). This shift fosters individualization, professional dissatisfaction, and burnout among academics (Budak and Sürgevil, 2005; Shin and Jung, 2014), while eroding traditions of solidarity, collaboration, and critical knowledge production (Winefield et al., 2003; Morrissey, 2019). Vulnerable groups, including early-career scholars, heterodox academics, and those resisting mainstream metrics, become particularly exposed to marginalization and precarity (Harding et al., 2017). Although universities attempt to mitigate these effects through ethics committees, research integrity policies, and social responsibility initiatives (Eksioglu et al., 2015), Polanyi’s framework suggests such corrective measures remain limited under the dominance of market logic (Polanyi, 1944). The paper calls for alternative value systems in academia that re-center solidarity, inclusivity, and social responsibility (Flyvbjerg, 2005; Özbilgin, 2010), and for a restructuring of performance evaluation criteria to better reflect qualitative and societal contributions. Ultimately, it argues that building collaborative networks and socially engaged knowledge practices is essential if universities are to reclaim their role as institutions serving the public good (Özbilgin and Slutskaya, 2017; Johann et al., 2024). Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33033 2026-01-28T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33032 Title: Expatriating for safety: recognition and marginalized women expatriates in the UAE Authors: Tekeste, M; Özbilgin, MF Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to explore motivations for self-initiated expatriation (SIE) among marginalized Western women, using the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a research site. Drawing on Honneth’s (1996) recognition theory, we investigate expatriation as a quest for safety and socio-political recognition. While expatriation literature frequently emphasizes career and lifestyle motivations, the role of safety as a primary driver for expatriation among women is underexplored. We demonstrate that expatriation can be seen as a means of gaining safety in society, at work and for children. Design/methodology/approach: Through 30 semi-structured interviews, this paper shows how misrecognition and discrimination in the home countries of the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA) push women to seek safety and recognition abroad. Findings: The study extends the expatriation literature by revealing how socio-political and safety-related factors influence expatriation decisions, particularly among minoritized groups. We call for a more comprehensive examination of the socio-political and safety-related pull factors influencing expatriation decisions and conclude with theoretical and practical implications. Originality/value: The study extends the expatriation literature by revealing how socio-political and safety-related factors influence expatriation decisions, particularly among minoritized groups. Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33032 2025-10-10T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33031 Title: Beyond Confessional Cultures: Identity and the Role of Silence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Interventions Authors: Eger, C; Özbilgin, MF Abstract: This paper interrogates the confessional foundations of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work, which have emerged predominantly from Global North traditions rooted in Christian understandings of subjectivity. In such traditions, identity is asserted through self-declaration, visibility, and vocal articulation of difference, what we term a confessional culture. Drawing on Foucauldian critiques, we explore how this imperative to “confess” produces an extreme form of subjectivity that is paradoxically both overexposed and untrue to itself. In contrast, Global South contexts, particularly those shaped by Islamic epistemologies, offer alternative modalities of identity work rooted in subtlety, silence, and communal ethics. Here, the good is practiced rather than pronounced, and self-description can be experienced as disrespectful or even transgressive. By juxtaposing these divergent cultural logics, the paper challenges the universality of DEI frameworks that prioritize self-expression and visibility. It argues for the need to reimagine DEI practices that are attuned to silent negotiations of identity, relational forms of recognition, and implicit pathways to social change. In doing so, the paper offers a deeper, more culturally pluralistic understanding of co-existence, belonging, equity and inclusion beyond the confessional paradigm. Description: Data Availability Statement: Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33031 2026-03-20T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33029 Title: A qualitative exploration of how never-married, childless single career women cope with singlism in Nigeria Authors: Mojeed-Sanni, B; Akanji, B; Mordi, C; Ajonbadi, H; Mordi, T; Adeoti, A Abstract: ... Description: ... Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33029 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z