Materialism, Marketisation, Misery and Debt:
How the system makes us sick
James Robertson
@J_D_Robertson
Lesson 1: Try and avoid Neil
Who owns the university?
Owning is the act or state of possessing
something…
Students!
Cumulative real-term actual and
projected income
Who’s really paying?
Put your hand up if you paid your fees this year
with money you or your family already had in the
bank
Put your hand up if you paid your fees using a
student loan
So who actually owns the university?
Why does it matter?
Why does it matter who pays for something?
What does it change?
What does it mean for how it operates?
How does it effect the relationships?
Who has the power?
“The economy is the method, the object is to change
the heart and the soul”
Fees don’t prevent access…
…they create indebted students
Fees are the starkest example of the government
replacing public funding and social rights with
private debt.
Outstanding UK students debt increased from 15
billion in 2005 to 54 billion in 2014.
It’s about constructing a particular
type of society…
Making debt part of everyday life while
withdrawing other forms of social support.
Debt helps to create a society which privileges
taking responsibility and control over one’s
circumstances (not reliant on state)
And about constructing a particular
type of subjectivity…
Fees/debt help create a university where the
moral responsibility to repay the creditor is
(covertly) front and centre.
This debt is repaid socially by acting and thinking
in such a way as to maximise your economic
value (e.g. employability)
Adopting the logic of a business: the same
attitudes, values and ways of relating to the world
oneself and others.
a particular type of university…
Using the university like a factory to produce
competitive, economically ‘useful’ individuals.
Through exams this usefulness is ranked
Orientated around the story that education is a
private good, a financial investment where the
return is to be seen in the form of higher earnings
A good education helps you succeed and get rich!
This modern story is fiction…
45p in every £ of this debt will not be paid back
The main reason…not enough students are getting jobs
paid over £21000
They’re looking at reducing the threshold to £18K!
Unrealistic expectation
This is a story that, although it doesn’t belong to
them, is indebted students’ responsibility
Perhaps not surprisingly, this process doesn’t
make us very happy…
A persecutory perfectionism…
“Social and mass media often
promote unrealistic life
expectations and engender a
persecutory perfectionism within
young adults”
“Unrealistic perfectionism is a key
driver for more serious problems
such as depression, anxiety, selfharm and eating disorders”
Alan Percy is head of counselling at the University
of Oxford and media spokesperson for the British
Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy:
Universities and Colleges.
Morwenna Jones
“Once a week I sat in a bleak room and explained to a
woman called Lucy that my condition was connected to an
obsessive desire to be the best.
For two years I had been killing myself in the name of
perfection, unable to enjoy being anything less than the
best. As a result I had developed depression alongside
severe bulimia”
Dr Marina Della Giusta
“There’s been a 20% year-on-year increase in students
wanting help from counsellors at Reading
University”
Dr Marina Della Giusta
“The factors that really drive it are financial
stress, university education has become more
expensive. And job prospects are more uncertain,
so they're not sure whether it's going to pay off."
“The other constant thorn is the expectation to be
seen to be having a good time, with social media
turning social lives into a place of competition
rather than relaxation.”
Meredith Leston
“In contrast to previous
generations, I think students feel
more pressure now, simply
because…they have larger student
loans than ever before, they’re
under more pressure, just from
their peers… as well as being a
first class student you have to be a
first class person, you have to be
performing socially, academically,
it’s a nightmare you’re just
permanently on, even worse you
have the whole other element of
social comparison and self-care
just goes out the window”
Obviously Meredith and Morwenna
aren’t the exception…
20% of students considered to have a mental health
problem. 13% had suicidal thoughts (2013)
A significant proportion (between 5-10%) of the student
community at universities in the UK uses the counselling
services
According to UCU, nearly half of all academics show
symptoms of psychological distress
Example case study
45%
40%
35%
Unhappy about their mental
health and wellbeing
30%
Mental illness is a big worry,
effecting day to day life
25%
Mental illness is becoming a
worrystarting to effect my life
20%
Depression is a big worry,
effecting day to day life
15%
Depression is becoming a
worrystarting to effect my life
10%
Stress is a big worry, effecting day
to day life
5%
0%
First Year
Second Year
Currency of ideas
Competitive culture
Third Year
Misery and Debt
Cooke, Barkham et al conducted a longitudinal study with
over 2000 students over three years
Those who perceived the debt as excessive were more likely
to be anxious or depressed than those who saw it as
“manageable” i.e. payable (Demographic/ economic
measures don’t predict differences)
77% of graduates were worried or very worried about their
student debt. According to NUS research – Debt in the First
Degree
Cooke, Barkham et al
High debt worry students felt:
1. More tense, anxious, or nervous, more criticised by other
people, more unhappy and more irritable with other people.
2. Less OK about themselves, less able to cope when things
go wrong, less happy with things they have done, less able
to do things they have needed to
3. Less able to do things they have needed to, and less
optimistic about the future
Melencholia: mental health and
indebtedness - Davies et al
Research by the Money Advice Service showed that out of
the population living with problem debt 74% are unhappy
and 70% often feel anxious because of their debt
In a study by Mind, 91% of respondents said that being in
debt has impacted negatively on their mental health
About 50% of people with debt in the UK have a “mental
disorder”, compared to 14% amongst people with no debt
Drentea et al. (2012)
“Mental disorder” suggests it’s their responsibility, the
debotor has malfunctioned
The story…
Borrow the money
Then repay your debts
Be competitive
Self-reliant
Cost effective
Business like
Successful
Individualistic
“Employable” (valuable)
Become “the best” (socially/ academically)
Only 1 person is “the best”
Kasser – High Price of Materialism
Study of 7000 students
Found those who put ‘extrinsic’ goals:
Financial success
Achievement
Public image
Ahead of motives like:
Their emotional wellbeing
A happy family life
Wanting to make the world a better place
Were more likely to suffer depression and anxiety
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Values
Extrinsic materialism and misery
The same correlation was found using the
aspiration index amongst student samples:
USA, UK, Denmark, Germany, India, Russia,
Singapore and south Korea.
Using the same methods the correlation has been
found in samples of adults in Australia, China,
Turkey and Canada.
Oliver James’ Selfish Capitalism examines this on
a national scale
Extrinsic values and capitalism
Hall and Gingerich, 2004
Behaviour is shaped by frames
Extrinsic communications
The rules of the game
We’re all playing the Wall Street game and it’s
making us unhappy.
The solutions we look at are part of the same
game.
They focus on individual ‘failure’ not system
failure.
Is it victim blaming?
Self-help, anti-depressants, coaching, monitoring
are symptoms of the same game of ‘individual
government’.
Indebtedness is still often cast as a problem
caused by irresponsible individual behaviour or
even as a mental malfunction!
E.G. failure to cope with debt is included as a
symptom of ‘antisocial personality disorder’
Should we look at more structural or
cultural solutions?
How do we challenge the conditions that make us
(all) miserable
How do we deal with this problem more
collectively?
How do we increase collaboration so we feel less
isolated and stressed out?
Would refusing to comply with any form of
competitive mechanism do us more good?
Thanks
[email protected]
@J_D_Robertson