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Workplace Injury and the Failing Academic Body: A Testimony of Pain

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  • Helena Liu

    (University of Technology Sydney)

Abstract

This article explores how meanings around risk, health/safety, and workers’ bodies are constructed in an academic context. I do so through the study of a single academic in Australia who sustained a back injury at work. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews and documents, I attempt to show the embodied experience of an injured worker’s struggle for care, recovery, and survival in the neoliberal academy. Writing from the nexus of workplace health and safety and critical management literatures, the raw testimony of this injured academic lays bare the violences that are enabled within a wider culture of self-discipline, individualism, and performativity in the university. The story presented in this article exposes how physiological and psychological injuries can be exacerbated through the very health and safety procedures that are designed to prevent and alleviate harm. Please note that this article contains references to suicide and suicidal ideation.

Suggested Citation

  • Helena Liu, 2022. "Workplace Injury and the Failing Academic Body: A Testimony of Pain," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 339-352, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:179:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04838-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04838-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christian Ståhl & Ellen MacEachen & Katherine Lippel, 2014. "Ethical Perspectives in Work Disability Prevention and Return to Work: Toward a Common Vocabulary for Analyzing Stakeholders’ Actions and Interactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 237-250, March.
    2. Susan Hart, 2013. "The Crash of Cougar Flight 491: A Case Study of Offshore Safety and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 519-541, March.
    3. Ea Høg Utoft, 2020. "‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 778-787, September.
    4. Susan Hart, 2010. "Self-regulation, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Business Case: Do they Work in Achieving Workplace Equality and Safety?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(4), pages 585-600, April.
    5. Silvia Pignata & Anthony H. Winefield & Carolyn M. Boyd & Chris Provis, 2018. "A Qualitative Study of HR/OHS Stress Interventions in Australian Universities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Nick Turner & Sarah Tennant, 2010. "“As far as is Reasonably Practicable”: Socially Constructing Risk, Safety, and Accidents in Military Operations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 21-33, January.
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