Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
THE MATTER OF DEGREE: UNDEREMPLOYED ACADEMICS AND LABOR MARKET SEGMENTATION (UNTENURED, FACULTY, TEMPORARY, APPOINTMENTS)
Abstract
The segmentation of the academic labor market into primary and secondary sectors is historically situated and described. The market experiences of recent Ph.D.s in selected humanities and social science disciplines illustrate the segmentation process. A consequence of placement in a secondary market may be academic underemployment. A structural model of academic market placement is developed as an alternative to a meritocratic model of job placement. Rather than focusing exclusively on the characteristics of individual workers, a structural model of market placement looks first at demographic features (such as race or sex) predisposing movement into a secondary sector. Once entering the secondary sector, characteristics of that market militate against mobility into a primary sector. Characteristics of a secondary labor market in academia include not having access to tenure or to institutional resources, and increased geographical mobility by virtue of the temporary nature of employment. The central thesis, that academics laboring in a secondary market are at greater risk of invisible underemployment, is supported by the data. Invisible underemployment is measured by low income relative to Ph.D.s in a primary sector, by job "mismatch" (perceived relationship between current job and educational training) and underemployment consciousness. Quantitative measures of underemployment are supplemented by qualitative data on job search experiences of recent Ph.D.s by market placement, and individual and organized responses to underemployment. Finally, current policies on Ph.D. oversupply and institutional responses to oversupply are discussed. Speculation on the findings of this study gives rise to directions for future research.
Subject Area
Sociology
Recommended Citation
HARTUNG, ELIZABETH, "THE MATTER OF DEGREE: UNDEREMPLOYED ACADEMICS AND LABOR MARKET SEGMENTATION (UNTENURED, FACULTY, TEMPORARY, APPOINTMENTS)" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8526593.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8526593