Challenges in making an academic career in education sciences. Issue 4 (19th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Angervall, Petra; Erlandson, Peter; Gustafsson, Jan
• Is Part Of: British journal of sociology of education. Volume 39:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 451
• Page End: 465
• Publication Date: 2018-05-19
• Subjects: Academic career -- ambivalence -- education sciences -- strategies -- university -- grad school; Educational sociology -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 306.43
• DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2017.1356219
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-5692

Abstract

Abstract: The competitive university has brought about changes in structural conditions and created contradictions which are embedded in institutions. The present study is based on interviews with 42 early career researchers in the field of education sciences in Sweden. We analyse how members of this group handle career possibilities and limitations in relation to gender and to the structural ambivalence embedded in the higher education system. Our results illustrate that the structure of education sciences contains power relations and processes of differentiation, which give researchers different access to resources that can be used to handle structural ambivalence. This is illustrated in how, for example, women researchers, more than men, lack resources to solve the experienced tensions surrounding them, and therefore often work in areas where they are able to cope. Men researchers can often solve their career ambivalence by avoiding traps and gaining recognition, and are therefore able to advance.