Tribal, proletarian and entrepreneurial career stories: junior academics as a case in point

Abstract

This paper explores the career-building of junior academics in the current higher education environment, which is characterised by short-term employment conditions. The paper is based on focus group discussions with Finnish early career academics working in the social sciences. Drawing upon a narrative approach, five career stories are constructed: the Novice of the Academic Elite, the Victim of the Teaching Trap, the Academic Worker, the Research Group Member and the Academic Freelancer. Each story is analysed in terms of four dimensions: core commitment, career risk, career support and stance towards the university. Furthermore, we reflect on the crossing and maintenance of boundaries that each story entails. The stories crystallise the cultural resources that junior academics rely on while making sense of their careers. The results show that there are radically different – even opposite – ways to understand what an academic career is, and how to build it.