"'Temporary' is the rare novel that reckons with unsteady work," says reviewer Marsh. "If the book is a surreal, absurd, sometimes self-defeating entry in the office genre, that is because temporary work is all those things."
About one-half of all higher education teachers and professors are contingent, or adjunct, laborers. This book portrays this crisis, and even though it is a flawed treatment, reviewer Roth finds some things of interest in this study.
As the incomes of the 25 best-paid public university presidents soared, the livelihoods of their faculty deteriorated. This deterioration resulted largely from the fact that tenured and tenure-track faculty were replaced with adjuncts (part-time instructors, paid by the course) and contingents (temporary faculty). Many adjuncts have incomes below the official poverty level and receive food stamps.
A film by Megan Fulwiler and Jennifer Marlow that explores the situation of adjuncts and contingent workers, in their own voices.
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