Comments on: Employment Trends And Academic Labor

By: The Best Jobs in America » Sociological Images

The Best Jobs in America » Sociological Images — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:48:23 +0000

[...] race, race and the economic downturn, changes in type of work over time, gender and the wage gap, trends in academic employment, science/engineering Ph.D.s for women and minorities, changes in compensation by job sector, more [...]

By: Recruiter Bill

Recruiter Bill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:28:59 +0000

I have worked in staffing for over 20 years, in the last few I have had a lot of people looking to transition into industry as they have not been able to realize their career goals in academic settings.

By: For your reading pleasure « Living in interesting times

For your reading pleasure « Living in interesting times — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:53:16 +0000

[...] “Employment Trends And Academic Labor,” Lisa Wade, Sociological Images: Seeing is Believing (May 23/09) [Thanks to Jonathan for the link.] [...]

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:56 +0000

This one is about the research question in the originating article. Actually, the demands on TT teaching (to absorb more students, more classes), make these positions *not* optimum for high quality research. Soft money researchers have, in principle, more time and attention to devote to research, as this is their mainstay, and what they are actually paid to do. On the down side, soft money researchers have to include their own salary in proposals, which make them less attractive to fund. All in all, university “biz” is following the globalization story, doing more of everything with fewer of everyone. Regarding teaching, an admin colleague recently observed the huge savings involved if a course could be delivered on a cell phone (through distance ed technology). Depressing. Coming soon from an ether-campus in an undisclosed location: the Tweet Degree.

By: Rachel Jenkins

Rachel Jenkins — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:42:30 +0000

The way universities have recently been operating with increasing losses, many if not most, classes will soon be online to save money for both school and students.

I was just hired as an online teacher, and those classes have to be paid in advance, so don’t lose money.

By: Becca

Becca — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:33:21 +0000

Vidya, I’m not so sure about your advice.

I know that in astronomy (my own field), the PhD institution does not make any statistical difference in the ability to get an astronomy job in academia later on. Here’s the paper: http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9904229

This is of course field specific, but astronomy is one field that definitely has a lack of permanent faculty positions available relative to the number of PhDs being produced. I’m betting it carries over into other fields. Anyone else read any studies about this? (The anecdotes always makes things seem way worse than they truly are, I’ve found.)

By: PhDork

PhDork — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:33:31 +0000

The first para got partially deleted, and should finish “…to a para-professional professoriate was well underway.”

By: PhDork

PhDork — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:32:06 +0000

My handle might tell you that this issue hits close to home. Even before the economy tanked (and took almost all the jobs in my field with it), the move

If you read the Chronicle of Higher Ed, or the Education series they’ve been running in the NYT, or ed blogs, you’ll know this has been coming for years, as universities are run as businesses, for profit, as the expense of its laborers. Tuition (which is *wildly* misnamed) goes toward buying and developing real estate, more dorm amenities; TT faculty are being replaced with squadrons of adjuncts who go without security, benefits, or even a decent wage, and more and more “administrators” are brought on, at higher salaries than the profs.

I love my field, but I hate the system, and if I had it to do all over again, I don’t think I’d do grad school or A&S: I’d sell out (business, finance, etc.) and become a paper pusher who leaves her work at work. There is no meritocracy, and there’s little future for people with PhDs in most humanities fields. I’m one of the most educated fools you’ll ever meet.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:11:50 +0000

“When the typical citizen thinks of tenure they think of aloof professors wasting their time on research with no applicability to the rest of society.”

Pat — do you have any evidence for this? Your post may be correct, but it reads like the standard evasion of activism.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:34:27 +0000

I am guessing you aren’t studying sociology if you think anything is meritocratic.

By: Penny

Penny — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:15:46 +0000

I did doctoral study with absolutely no interest in a tenure-track position. I did it because I had an interesting research project I would have done with or without a degree at the end; and because I was offered a very nice three-year fellowship, and because it meant spending time in a small program with good people. Because I did the program with no TT intentions, I was able to make it a good experience for me. But…if I spent the whole time worrying about academic job prospects, tailoring my work to that goal, and still landed off campus, I could definitely see that being a bitter disappointment.

By: Vidya

Vidya — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:16:01 +0000

I should clarify that I don’t believe that ‘top university’ =/= ‘top program’ (in Canada, I find the discrepancy shockingly large, in fact).

And, yes, there are some fields/disciplines in which a PhD can assist in getting a job outside academia — but mine is not one of these; almost everyone I know who is doing a doctorate aspires to find a TT position, and most will not be able to do so.

Also, yes, I believe doctoral study *should* be elitist — not in the sense of social class or economic standing (few students at my own institution possess much of these), but meritocratically. (Incidentally, I know several professors hired for TT positions in recent years, and all were the recipients of major government-funded scholarships during their PhD studies. I haven’t seen much in the way of academia-career possibilities materialize for non-scholarship-winning graduates.)

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:19:12 +0000

Wow Vidya, that is some incredibly bad and elitist advice. First, graduate education is not just about getting a job. Second, there are plenty of great jobs outside academia (for many, but not all disciplines). And occasionally, an interesting and less studied topic of expertise can help you get a job. There are plenty of ways to market yourself besides with the name of the school that you went to. It is true that top tier schools tend to be elitist and only hire graduates from top tier schools. But those are not the only jobs to be had.

By: NL

NL — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:04:45 +0000

I’m an adjunct, and I make about minimum wage. It’s pretty awesome trying to live and pay back loans on that. I definitely had it better as a TA — like L, I had benefits, an office (shared with 6 other people), and a 2-year contract.

The grad chair of my former department just got tenure. I’m very happy for him; he worked very hard. But I don’t think I’ll be seeing too many more happy notes like that as the years go by.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:13:47 +0000

TT jobs are probably on their way out, complete. Anyone expecting to get such a job is fooling themselves (says a social scientist PhD student at the #2 institution for his field). The system will not change radically, and while those of us in the system may think it’s not a good change, we are far far far far far in the minority on this opinion. When the typical citizen thinks of tenure they think of aloof professors wasting their time on research with no applicability to the rest of society.

Expect humanities and social science TT jobs to be the first to go. The generation of PhD students coming out now will be one of the last with relatively large-scale TT employment.

And guess what? The world won’t end.