Sociology Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2804
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Item The Sociological Study of Expert Knowledge Work: Current Trends and Changes in the Study of the Professions, Professionalization, and Professionalism(2018) Yagatich, William; Fisher, Dana R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation is a collection of three papers, separate but related investigations in the sociological study of expert knowledge. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives developed in the study of the professions, this work continues the current trend of applying the revised concepts to occupational groups that more accurately reflect contemporary economic arrangements. To contribute to the most recent trends in the study of expert knowledge, this dissertation endeavors to integrate the concepts of professionalism and professionalization to the study of expert knowledge—specifically, a group’s ability to control an area of labor and define its practice. The first case study builds on previous research pertaining to professionalization to argue control over consumers is integral to understanding how expert knowledge is leveraged and cordoned off from competition. Using a qualitative approach to the study of tattoo artists and their interactions with clientele and the public, the findings provide support for recognizing informal and formal means of control over consumers, in addition to controls over standards of practice and membership. The second case study investigates the professionalization of volunteer work. This study aims to explicate the ways in which volunteer work may operate and be understood in the same ways as paid occupational groups. Employing survey and in-depth interview data to evaluate the effects of volunteers’ training, the study reveals training programs for volunteer work can instill a sense legitimacy in volunteers and make them more effective in their work, however, like other occupational groups, to attain social closure they would also need a strong, active network of members and a coordinated means of influencing their public image. The last case study investigates how professionalism is maintained or diminished in the wake of change spurred by external bureaucratic arrangements. Taking faculty members of higher education as the focus of this study, situating them in the context of expanding enrollments and online course instruction, this work demonstrates how professionalism is exercised through defining problems in terms of their expertise. In that way, engagement with problems posed by external pressures may foster disciplinary identity and new boundaries of professional practice.Item Identity Processes, Social Context, and the Formation of Social Solidarity in Groups(2015) Posard, Marek Nathan; Lucas, Jeffrey W; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A proposed theory explains how actors rely on subtle features of social context when deciding whether to contribute resources to the group and punish their partners after they behave selfishly. The theory incorporates elements of identity control theory with social exchange theory. It proposes that features of social context shape the perceptions of actors in groups. These perceptions, in turn, affect their behaviors and the formation of social solidarity between group members. Three experiments test elements of the proposed theory by varying the context in which actors viewed themselves, their partners, and the overall goals of their groups. The instructions for study 1 told groups of actors that they either had cooperative or competitive personality types. Study 2 referred to the partners of actors as either collaborators or competitors. Study 3 told actors the goals of their groups were either defined by cooperation or competition. Each study assigned actors to the same group structure in which individuals completed a public goods game with opportunities to anonymously punish their partners. Results show that actors contributed more resources to their group, and spent fewer resources punishing their partners, when they viewed themselves or their partners as more cooperative than competitive. These behaviors, in turn, affected levels of trust, commitment, and cohesion that formed between group members. The context in which actors viewed the goals of their groups affected their contributions to these groups, but it did not significantly affect their punishment of partners. These patterns of behaviors also had negligible effects on social solidarity in groups. Thus, results from these experiments show that subtle features of the relational context (i.e. perceptions of self and partners) affect the means by which actors promote collective action in groups, shaping the formation of social solidarity between group members.Item Penalties and Premiums: Clarifying Perceptions of Parents in the Professional Workplace(2014) Denny, Kathleen; Milkie, Melissa A; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Parental status inequality is pervasive in American workplaces. Mothers' wage penalties and fathers' wage premiums are well-documented, with much academic and policy interest invested in explaining why we observe these disparate earnings patterns. Employer discrimination and biased perceptions of parents are likely, although not easily researchable, culprits. In this dissertation, I contribute to the ongoing effort to explain parental status inequality at work by examining how parents are perceived and evaluated in the context of the professional workplace, beyond differences by gender alone. I advance the literature by assessing how perceptions of mothers and fathers vary based on three dimensions: a) their level of involvement with children; b) their race/ethnicity; and c) characteristics of the perceivers. Data come from three sources: two parallel experimental vignette studies in which nationally representative samples of employed adults rated a fictitious job applicant, one male and one female, who varied on parenthood status (non-parent, nominal parent, less involved parent, highly involved parent) and race/ethnicity (white, African-American, Latino, Asian), as well as a semi-structured interview study of 15 employers in the professional sector. Together, results from these studies expound upon our existing knowledge of workplace parental penalties and premiums, yielding three major findings: 1) Fathers received an involvement premium as highly involved fathers, but not mothers, were offered higher salaries than their childless and less involved counterparts; 2) The documented perceptual penalty leveled at mothers in the workplace was most acutely directed at white mothers, whereas Asian mothers, by contrast, were perceived most favorably among women; and 3) Mothers may suffer from an interpersonal penalty in the workplace as employers observed that their childless employees perceive parent coworkers with resentment and as being unfairly advantaged. Together, these results bring the cultural terrain of parental status inequality into sharper relief. Following a discussion of the dialectical relationship between culture and policy for reducing parental status inequality at work, I conclude by calling for a reconceptualization of the ideal worker norm based on evidence of a cultural shift underway in how parenthood, namely fatherhood, is interpreted in the workplace.