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Post by anonanon on Aug 6, 2011 14:01:38 GMT -5
First time on the job market.
The culture section is one of (or the?) the biggest sections at ASA, but I have yet to see a single job that lists "culture" as a targeted area of interest. Is it always like this?
If my read is correct, how do culture people approach this problem? If you study culture as it relates to identity do you just apply for the race or gender jobs, or if you study cultural production and/or consumption you just apply to orgs and econ soc jobs, or if you study culture in a global context you just apply to global jobs?
The central question(s):
Is my read just horribly off on this and these jobs are coming?
If no:
1)Within the limited domain of the job market, is the study of culture relegated to a secondary or tertiary interest?
3)Save for throwing yourself to the meat market of open calls (which we are all doing anyway), what is a culture person to do?
If I've already answered my own questions, please feel free to use this thread for griping.
Thanks.
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Post by kangaroo on Aug 6, 2011 16:16:24 GMT -5
I don't know the answer, but it is a damn good - and very frustrating - question. My best guess is people do "culture and..."
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Post by Islander on Aug 6, 2011 16:33:34 GMT -5
I've watched the market for at least the past four years. During that time, I've seen very few sociology of culture jobs. I'm sure someone will contradict me, and provide year-to-year numbers. I hope they do.
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Post by socanon on Aug 6, 2011 17:17:14 GMT -5
I too share the concern here. It's also my first year on the market and I have been disappointed thus far with the lack of jobs even mentioning the word "culture." Please, somebody chime in with some good news to make us culture people feel better...
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Post by aaaaaaaaaaa on Aug 6, 2011 18:09:40 GMT -5
The reason for the scarcity of culture jobs is pretty much twofold, in my experience:
1- Culture underwent somewhat of a "Revival" about 10 years ago, and so a lot of the hiring was done back then (there was even a year where the ASA theme was the "culture turn" or something like that).
2- But, most importantly, culture is simply not a big grant field, and in a period of budget problems and funding cuts, big grant areas get most of the attention (see medical sociology, race and gender, demography and the family, etc).
As for what is a culture person to do, I think that 2 pretty good things to do is make sure you have experience teaching theory and methods. Culture folks should have no problems teaching theory and qualitative methods, at least, so make sure you have experience doing that.
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Post by cultureturn on Aug 6, 2011 18:39:21 GMT -5
I think part of this is a cultural shift too (har har). A couple years ago, people seemed more excited by purely cultural projects. Since the financial crisis, people seem more excited by substantive projects with heavier implications. That's just my read based on my own n of 1 social network.
So people are less likely to be excited by a project that advances cultural theory for its own sake, but still like cultural projects that speak to issues of inequality and things like that.
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Post by quant on Aug 6, 2011 22:56:02 GMT -5
I know a few culture peeps who were adept at teaching quantitative and qualitative methods. They had no trouble finding work. I guess my only advice is to pair culture with a hot secondary field.
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Post by anonanon on Aug 7, 2011 1:45:20 GMT -5
Thanks all. cultureturn, I do understand what you were trying to say, but FWIW, my work is substantive and with implications. Even the culture part!
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Post by interesting on Aug 7, 2011 3:15:19 GMT -5
Not a culture person here, but just a thought... I think there are a lot of areas that are orienting frameworks as well as subjects of study: life course, culture, social psych, global soc, ethnomethodology, etc. In order to study culture (or social psych, etc.) one often examines particular social institutions or types of social interaction. I think that other people who study those institutions/interactions might be very excited to have a scholar join their department who is coming from another approach (ie, culture). So, while there might not be a ton of jobs advertised for people who do culture, or ethnomethodology, and so on, your research is relevant to more than one sub-area. Depending on what it is you study, you might want to list something else first, and culture second, on your CV. Or if culture is first, perhaps use the second listing to help explain how you go about studying culture. And honestly, I think there are a lot of people out there studying culture already, so it's not really seen as a "need" - but that doesn't mean culture people wouldn't be welcome (to the contrary!). Just my guess...
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Post by Culture on Aug 8, 2011 13:12:01 GMT -5
Something to think about...
One of the products of the cultural turn (which started in the late 1960s within the social sciences, and caught on in the States a bit later) was the increasing influence of cultural analysis in all sub-fields of sociology. So a position on Race, or Gender, or Crime, or Movements doesn't prohibit those of us invested in the cultural turn from applying. If you're a "cultural sociologist" or "sociologist of culture" (a debate within itself over the past 15 or so years in ASA), you still most likely have a sub-field (or more than one) where you investigate the ways in which that area and culture interact, how culture enables and constrains your particular area of concern, etc.
Apply, and bring what you do to the table, rather than wait for the rare "sociology of culture" position to come up.
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yep
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by yep on Aug 8, 2011 13:52:54 GMT -5
Yes. I think to put it more simply, you are a culture person, but to put this into perspective by answering the following question: you study the culture of what?
Is it cities? Arts and culture? Consumption? Markets? Globalization? Religion? For subfields, that's your answer. Most people will tend to have intersecting theoretical goals and substantive subfield areas. Another answer might be a geographical region or ethnic diaspora. You can also be a methods person, looking at methods to study cultures.
If you say "I study the theory of culture," well, I'm afraid to say that you are probably a theory person, and the jobs there are unfortunately limited. You would do well by trying to answer the substantive subfield question so that you have more jobs to apply to. If you have a geographic focus, look also to area studies programs, which might not be in a sociology department, but realize that those jobs will have high competition from people coming from anthro, literature, history departments.
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Post by anonanon on Aug 11, 2011 0:44:45 GMT -5
Alright, thanks for the feedback everyone.
By official decree, 2011 is anointed the year of The Cultural Turn Away. It is so.
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Post by drbearjew on Aug 11, 2011 8:11:11 GMT -5
You may be happy to know...U. of Toronto posted a "Sociology of Culture" position on their website.
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Post by rocinante on Aug 11, 2011 8:29:52 GMT -5
Could you provide a link to the position and/or post it to the New Positions of Interest thread in the Forum?
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yep
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by yep on Aug 11, 2011 8:33:05 GMT -5
^ Are you too lazy to use the internet and do it yourself?
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