Lives in Science: How Institutions Affect Academic Careers (review)

Joseph C. Hermanowicz has written an insightful book about the professional lives of university scientists using longitudinal data that he collected by interviewing 55 physicists in 1994 and the same scientists again in 2004-2005. This book is the sequel to his The Stars Are Not Enough: Scientists—Their Passions and Professions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), which focused on how ambitions vary across institutions and over time. In this book, Hermanowicz asks his interviewees to reflect on their careers and professional accomplishments.

The introduction and Chapter 1 lay the foundation for the book, arguing that, when studying the careers of academics, it is not wise to overgeneralize faculty experiences or expectations across American higher education. Instead, it is important to understand what work means to people and how these views evolve over time. The three theoretical frameworks of this sociological study look at commitment, motivation and identification, and definitions of and expectations for success (p. 13).

These frameworks encompass an occupational perspective that focuses on careers, identities, and institutions—a life-span perspective that highlights the aging of the cohort through different life phases; and a perspective attuned to stratification in the sciences as seen through both the institutional and personal reward systems.

He groups the scientists six ways: first by career stage (early to mid-career, mid- to late-career, and late- to post-career) and then by the type of institution where they work (e.g., elite, pluralist, and communitarian). These categories provide patterns of and distinctions between and among the different cohorts.

Chapter 2 focuses on the passage from early to mid-career. Here advancement in professional rank and the quality and quantity of publications can be seen across all cohorts. The extent to which elites, pluralists, and communitarians focused on their research in the early career stages had long-term effects on their careers.

By the time they entered the mid-career phase, with few exceptions, the elites remained focused on research, the pluralists had found a balance between research and teaching, and the communitarians had adjusted their expectations to concentrate more on teaching. The level of change in aspirations, recognition sought, orientation toward work and family, and career satisfaction shifted in relation to the reality of the opportunities and challenges found in their institutions and in the scientific community.

Chapter 3 contrasts the three cohorts as they moved from the mid- to late-career phase, marked by differences in occupational aging, and highlights two observations. First, the professors remained active in their research; and second, they continued to publish in relation to the prestige of and resources available through their institutions.

Elites continued to focus on intense research agendas that met the requirements of an external reward system, while the communitarians considered their research careers finished and turned toward an internal reward system, defining their success through teaching and service. This finding confirms Gouldner's (1958) differentiation between "local" and "cosmopolitan" professors. The pluralists found ways to balance research and teaching, thus responding to the multiple goals of their institutions.

I consider Chapter 4 one of the book's most important chapters, as it provides the professors' personal insights into the aging of the professoriate (Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006). Noted differences appear among the elite, pluralist, and communitarian cohorts, as they assess the success of their careers during this late- to post-career phase. The elites continued to work on their research, even after retirement, and expressed ambivalence toward their overall accomplishments and recognition received. Pluralists tended to reduce or stop their research but expressed a positive attitude that their careers had progressed as they expected. The retired communitarians had left their institutions and academic work to pursue other interests.

Chapter 5 summarizes and synthesizes the findings of the previous three chapters to further identify patterns within and among the cohorts. Hermanowicz aptly states: "To the people of it, academia, and specifically science, consists of subjective careers...