Managing the rules of recognition : how early career academics negotiate career scripts through identity work

Abstract

Due to the changing landscapes of higher education, a large body of research has studied how scholars make sense of academic identities and careers. Yet, little is known about how academics actually ‘work’ on their identities to navigate normative demands and complex career structures. This paper explores how scholars negotiate career scripts trough identity work. Drawing upon 35 interviews with early career academics in political science and history, the analysis discerns four patterns of identity talk through which academic identities are constructed: achievement talk (signalling achievement and competitiveness), authenticity talk (signalling genuineness and being true to self), loyalty talk (signalling loyalty and willingness of helping out), and personation talk (adjustment to privileged identities). Defining what to display and how to correctly embody its corresponding values, these patterns convey different ways in which scholars manage their identities according to the perceived rules of recognition. Identifying several contrasting understandings of what it means to act and to represent worth, the study shows that successful identity management requires a certain feel for the game of recognition. Involving the symbolic struggle of ‘fitting in’ and ‘standing out,’ strategies for identity work are shaped by scholars’ social class background and gender. In demonstrating how the prevalence of project-based work accentuates the importance of identity performances on academic markets, the findings suggest that the concept of identity labour may open up new avenues of investigation.

Abstract (Swedish)

Due to the changing landscapes of higher education, a large body of research has studied how scholars make sense of academic identities and careers. Yet, little is known about how academics actually ‘work’ on their identities to navigate normative demands and complex career structures. This paper explores how scholars negotiate career scripts trough identity work. Drawing upon 35 interviews with early career academics in political science and history, the analysis discerns four patterns of identity talk through which academic identities are constructed: achievement talk (signalling achievement and competitiveness), authenticity talk (signalling genuineness and being true to self), loyalty talk (signalling loyalty and willingness of helping out), and personation talk (adjustment to privileged identities). Defining what to display and how to correctly embody its corresponding values, these patterns convey different ways in which scholars manage their identities according to the perceived rules of recognition. Identifying several contrasting understandings of what it means to act and to represent worth, the study shows that successful identity management requires a certain feel for the game of recognition. Involving the symbolic struggle of ‘fitting in’ and ‘standing out,’ strategies for identity work are shaped by scholars’ social class background and gender. In demonstrating how the prevalence of project-based work accentuates the importance of identity performances on academic markets, the findings suggest that the concept of identity labour may open up new avenues of investigation.

• author: Nästesjö, Jonatan
• organization: Educational Sciences
• publishing date: 2022-12-23
• type: Contribution to journal
• publication status: published
• subject: Educational Sciences; Sociology
• keywords: identity work, recognition, reward, worth, academic careers, academic work, identity labour, early career academics, academic identities, identity work, recognition, reward, worth, academic careers, academic work, identity labour, early career academics, academic identities
• in: Studies in Higher Education
• pages: 13 pages
• publisher: Taylor & Francis
• external identifiers: scopus:85145046154
• ISSN: 1470-174X
• DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2022.2160974
• project: Uncertainty and Worth in Academic Life: Exploring How Early Career Academics Navigate Changing Evaluative Landscapes
• language: English
• LU publication?: yes
• id: 41b2153a-e0cc-4238-a3ba-b2453fa8c7dc
• date added to LUP: 2023-01-03 09:09:50
• date last changed: 2024-01-04 23:50:53