Probationary citizenship in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an Irish university: A disrupted patriarchal bargain?

Abstract

The model for the creation of knowledge in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) involves the near total career dependence by probationary citizens on senior academics. In this article such probationary citizens include those at the early career stage, mainly but not exclusively post-doctoral researchers (postdocs). Traditionally, the implicit assumption was that senior academics would facilitate their access to a permanent position in return for a time limited period of exploitation as part of an organisational patriarchal bargain. This article is concerned with exploring how these probationary citizens came to access temporary positions, their experience of them and their perception of their future. Drawing on qualitative data from 13 probationary citizens, men and women, on two to five-year contracts in an Irish case study university, it shows that regardless of how they accessed probationary citizenship, their future was uncertain with no guarantee of a permanent academic position. The article raises questions about the valorisation of the highly dependent relationships between probationary citizens and permanent STEM academics as the main model for the creation of knowledge in STEM.