The neoliberalization of academia: a focus on young Russian researchers' work–life (im)balance

Purpose Under post-Fordist labor processes, academic professionals become precarious office workers. Taking the case of a top Russian university, this article illustrates these processes in a heightened situation characterized by sanctions pressure. Design/methodology/approach Using 30 interviews with young researchers, this article explores how they perceive and evaluate work–life balance (WLB) and what motivates them to pursue careers in academia. Findings The results show that young researchers understand WLB as an individual's ability to break out of the “faster, higher, stronger” race. Self-realization, serving a mission and forming a community of like-minded people are the meanings of work that outweigh the disadvantages of the academic lifestyle. WLB is a moral category: Its (failed) achievement is constructed as a personal win or personal failure and a sign of moral (un)worthiness. Research limitations/implications This paper is a call for a more nuanced understanding of the moral implications of WLB. Understanding WLB as a moralized occupational disease provides a basis for analyzing mechanisms by which workers internalize systemic failures and reframe them as personal moral deficits. Originality/value This article focuses on the effects neoliberalization has on academic spaces in an under-researched post-socialist geopolity where managerial control synchronizes with state power. By drawing parallels between the categories of WLB and health, the study offers a metaphor of imbalance as an occupational disease not included in any insurance cover and for which young academic workers are an at risk group.