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Socialization in the Academic and Professional Field: Revealing the Homo Oeconomicus Academicus
Habitusformation und Feldsozialisation im wirtschaftlichen und wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Feld: Die Entschlüsselung des Homo Oeconomicus Academicus
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Abstract The paper analyses the formation of the habitus of economists in Germany. To reconstruct the economic habitus, a qualitative agency analysis will be conducted, i.e., the agency of professors and the process of professional socialization will be revealed. The project follows up on the substantial lit... view more
The paper analyses the formation of the habitus of economists in Germany. To reconstruct the economic habitus, a qualitative agency analysis will be conducted, i.e., the agency of professors and the process of professional socialization will be revealed. The project follows up on the substantial literature on the indoctrination vs. self-selection debate in economics. In short, this debate asks why economists are more self-oriented than other groups. While some authors find strong evidence for a learning effect in economic studies, other au-thors provide evidence that a process of self-selection takes place before entry to the economic profession. Overall, the paper aims at answering how stable a habitus can be, and what forms of habitus modification professionals face when entering new fields. The results show that the widely used distinction between indoctrination and selection is not suitable. Rather, I will demonstrate that a field theory perspective considering the process of professional field socialization as a form of field-specific accumulation of capital is needed to explain the ambiguous results.... view less
Keywords
economics; job history; Federal Republic of Germany; habits; homo economicus; biographical method; Bourdieu, P.; model construction; economist; economic sociology; occupational socialization; field theory; career; academic
Classification
Sociology of Economics
Free Keywords
Sociology of economics; economists; academic socialization; professional socialization; professional habitus; economic habitus; habitus-field-theory; Pierre Bourdieu
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 39-62
Journal
Historical Social Research, 43 (2018) 3
Issue topic
Economists, Politics, and Society: New Insights from Mapping Economic Practices Using Field-Analysis
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.43.2018.3.39-62
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed