Uncovers the labor exploitation occurring in universities across the country As much as we think we know about the modern university very little has been said about what it s like to work there. Instead of the high-wage high-profit world of knowledge work most campus employees--including the vast majority of faculty--really work in the low-wage low-profit sphere of the service economy. Tenure-track positions are at an all-time low with adjuncts and graduate students teaching the majority of courses. This super-exploited corps of disposable workers commonly earn fewer than $16 000 annually without benefits teaching as many as eight classes per year. Even undergraduates are being exploited as a low-cost disposable workforce. Marc Bousquet a major figure in the academic labor movement exposes the seamy underbelly of higher education--a world where faculty graduate students and undergraduates work long hours for fast-food wages. Assessing the costs of higher education s corporatization on faculty and students at every level How the University Works is urgent reading for anyone interested in the fate of the university.