Electronic Journal of Sociology (1998) ISSN: 1198 3655 The University, Accountability, and Market Discipline in the Late 1990s Mike Sosteric Department of Global and Social Analysis Athabasca University mikes@athabascau.ca Mike Gismondi Department of Global and Social Analysis Athabasca University mikeg@athabascau.ca Gina Ratkovic Department of Sociology University of Alberta ratkovic@ualberta.ca NOTE: All authors contributed equally to this project. Abstract The academy, like many public and private institutions before it, has been colonised by the discourses of consumerism, efficiency, and market discipline. By now it is a familiar trend and, as many countries have experienced the neo-right assault on the public sector, a familiar discourse. In this paper we examine the implications of this colonisation suggesting how effects penetrate the very core of the university. Access by all social classes to higher education, pedagogical effectiveness, and even the possibility of critical inquiry are under systematic attack. The situation appears grim. Yet we now approach a critical historical juncture where resistance is becoming increasingly possible and probable. Towards that end, strategies are suggested for resisting the colonisation and reclaiming the academic public space. Introduction