The Young Sociologist: Some Factors Involved in Entry to the Academic World

Abstract

Whilst it is probably true, as at least one reviewer has observed,2 that sociologists have written about themselves more often than they commonly assume, it also seems to be the case, as the same writer maintains, that the sociology of sociologists has left a good many stones unturned: we hope that in looking at young academic sociologists we shall be able to meet, at least in part, this indictment of the sociologists' failure to fully comprehend their own occupational structure. Some of the questions to be asked have already been posed by Tiryakian,3 who suggests that we are still short of information on the recruitment of persons to various branches of the sociological profession. Neither, he further argues, do we have a great deal of data on how sociologists compare with other professionals. By looking at academic sociologists and comparing them with those with whom they initially graduated, not only will we hopefully learn something about those features that characterize sociologists from non-sociologists, but we may also observe the extent to which those who remain in the academic world are the elite of the elite:4 in other words, we can attempt to assess whether the higher education sector is able to attract the most able and highly qualified personnel. One preliminary point needs to be emphasized, concerning the category of'academic sociologists'. We have not merely focused upon those employed in the university sector; rather our group embraces all those employed in higher education in the sense outlined by the Robbins report . . . 'the universities in Great Britain, and those colleges that provide courses for the education and training of teachers . . . in addition the Colleges of Advanced Technology, the advanced work undertaken in a great number of technical and commercial colleges.'5 Thus academic sociologists have been regarded by us as those employed in-universities, colleges of education, polytechnics and colleges of technology: these are all degree awarding or degree level institutions and for this reason it seems somewhat inaccurate to concentrate upon one more socially prestigious area. What detail may be lost as a result of this broad sweep should be made up through a more comprehensive * David Webb B.A. M.A. Research Assistant. University of Leicester