How I demystified academe and got a Ph.D.

Graduate education is more than simply taking courses, taking comprehensive exams, and writing theses and dissertations. It is also a process of personal intellectual growth that results in a redefinition of identity. This transformation of self is tantamount to a demystification process such that students must debunk the “Ph.D. mystique” to identify with sociologists and become members of the sociological community. Faculty can aid this process by sharing their own transformative experiences, but the structured inequality of the faculty-student relationship is a harrier against such personal disclosures. Yet transcending those structural barriers may be necessary to enhance the quality of graduate education in sociology. She is specializing in political economy and is writing a dissertation on economic change and work-time reduction.