Abstract
Although a variety of resources exist to aid social scientists, in general, in their aca-demic job pursuits, almost no resources detail this process specifically for sociolo-gists. This research aims to provide a review of the literature on the academic job market and to provide a sociological analysis of the job searching process in sociology. We report and analyze the experiences of five sociologists as they moved from graduate school, post-doctoral fellowships, an applied research position, and a non-tenure track teaching position to assistant professor positions. We detail the importance of impression management and self-presentation throughout this process (by job candidates, departments, and administrators), the resources provided by the American Sociological Association that exist to aid job candidates, and we suggest implications of the current organization of the sociology job market.
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Throughout this article we use the pronoun “sheℍ to preserve the anonymity of our co-authors. The authors thank Barbara Risman, Beth Rushing, and Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld for advice and suggestions regarding this manuscript.
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Cotten, S.R., Price, J., Keeton, S. et al. Reflections on the academic job search in sociology. Am Soc 32, 26–42 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-001-1026-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-001-1026-3