Paper short abstract:

Through a six-month ethnography, we investigated how unpaid/underpaid PhD students in neoliberal universities work as gig application consultants for income. By exploring empowerment-exploitation, we speak to global academic capitalism and propose fairer pay for PhD students.

Paper long abstract:

In today's neoliberal universities, many unpaid and self-funded PhD students work as gig application consultants, either independently or for agencies. They connect universities and international applicants by helping clients prepare their application packages. Previous research on academic gig labor has primarily focused on the work-life interface and precarity experiences of university employees. However, there is a scarcity of research on PhD students' experiences as gig laborers off campus. With more and more Chinese middle-class people seeking elite Western education, this paper investigates overseas Chinese PhD students in the humanities and social sciences and their experiences working as gig application consultants. It aims to explore the power dynamics between application consultants, customers, and universities, particularly regarding their motivation, production process, negotiation with knowledge price, and emotional investment.

The conceptual framework is built on empowerment and exploitation in labor studies. Through a six-month digital autoethnography and in-depth interviews with Chinese PhD students working as gig application consultants, we found that they empower themselves by monetizing their production through the knowledge gap between potential and current students. They also managed to negotiate the "correct" amount of emotional investment to balance exploitation with financial empowerment.

The research addresses global academic exploitation at neoliberal universities. It studies the gig economy and academic precarity using under-presented data of PhD students. Social stratification as a result of western intellectual hegemony and its effects on individuals are also examined. Our deeper examination of middle-class clients and their expectations will also provide a new window into China's societal inequities.