Sociology as a vocation: Reputations and group cultures in graduate school |
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Authors: | Gabrielle Ferrales Gary Alan Fine |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, USA;(2) American Bar Foundation, USA;(3) Northwestern University, USA;(4) Russell Sage Foundation, New York |
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Abstract: | Graduate training in sociology involves more than meeting organizationally imposed demands such as satisfying departmental
requirements, taking exams, and completing a dissertation. More central is the development of identity through institutional
and interactional forces. We examine the experience of graduate students as tied to the social psychological processes associated
with professional training. We consider the faculty-student relationship, identifying how student identities as future sociologists
are negotiated and constructed within a reputation market linked to status politics. Through this process, graduate students
construct frames of interpretation that make sense of a status system in which criteria for evaluation are often variable,
uncertain, or undisclosed. To recognize how graduate students fit into their occupational routines, we build upon three core
disciplinary constructs: identity, reputation, and group culture. This perspective permits graduate education to be grounded
in sociological understandings, underlining the role of a sociological imagination. We propose strategies that sociology departments
might follow to facilitate the professional socialization of graduate students, emphasizing the establishment of group culture
and presentational norms. In the absence of these changes, we offer advice to graduate students on navigating their current
programs. |
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Keywords: | |
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