Double‐conscious professional self‐expression of racial minority scientists‐in‐training

Abstract

SummaryDouble‐consciousness pervades the workplace experiences of minority professionals. Prior research captures various manifestations of double‐consciousness in the workplace, yet much of what we know comes from understanding the experiences of minority professionals in predominantly White workplaces. Inherent in conceptions of double‐consciousness is the sense of twoness in one's self concept that arises from seeing oneself through the eyes of both the predominantly White profession and one's own racial community. In this study, we examine contrasts as well as commonalities in experiences of double‐consciousness across different social contexts in the socialization of minority scientists‐in‐training. We draw from qualitative data collected from 64 individuals (including 39 underrepresented minority doctoral students, and 25 faculty, staff, and administrators) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral programs in both predominantly White and historically Black institutions to examine and compare the factors across different contexts that influence how minority scientists‐in‐training are able to express their emerging professional identity. Our findings reveal how minority scientists‐in‐training experience twoness as both a struggle and a strength, and we develop an inductive model of how different socializations influence the double‐conscious professional self‐expressions of minority scientists in training.