What is with the themed postdocs?

[yep]

See also: my posting of what would otherwise look like a good multiyear postdoc from Univ. of Helsinki.
socjobs.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=postdoc&action=display&thread=109

Except that I scroll down and see "oh great, the theme is mortality"

I just wonder what the deal is with these stupid themes. My feeling is that either you get a weird stretch for people or they don't really follow the theme. Although I guess as a filter to get fewer applications, that makes sense...

Ugh.... Can someone else give me a better reason for these dumb themes?

[lookielou]

Themed postdocs often involve a common seminar that all postdocs and internal faculty/student fellows attend. Fellows do common readings and have extended conversations about the topic.

Engendering a coherent dialogue among a group of scholars working on unrelated topics is the intellectual equivalent of herding cats.

[also]

Remember that the vast majority of postdocs out there are of the sort where you are applying to join someone's lab and work on the lab's projects. So, the themes aren't arbitrary, they're identifying the sorts of things you'd be expected to be able to come in and spend your year(s) working on.

[yep]

This does give a good perspective.

However, to the point about labs - I do not believe this is correct, because it is more common to organize around research centers in sociology, which are technically not the same thing as a lab. In addition, some postdocs take a lab structure while others primarily let you work on your own research, not a pre-formed project of an advisor. (The Helsinki postdoc that I mentioned is very unlikely to have a lab structure - it would have a research colloquium structure, but I doubt it would be a lab structure. People probably would end up with seats in their respective departments.)

[postdoc]

Lab isn't really the correct term per se. But the point is generally correct. "Shop" might be a more applicable term for sociologists. Most postdocs are funded by a specific grant-funded project. Therefore you will be expected to go a work on someone's project.

These kinds of post docs are becoming more common for two reasons. 1) NIH has been cutting back on the traditional post docs at NICHD/NIA pop centers. 2) the costs of hiring grad students at most institutions is moving ever closer to that of a postdoc. If given the choice between a grad student (even one from a top 10 program) and a postdoc, I would take the later every day of the week and twice on sunday.