Scientists and Satisfaction

Abstract

Are professors happy? Results from surveys generally conclude that they are, much like other professionals. But high satisfaction registered in surveys may measure the normatively-generated, public side of work that affirms the academic profession's official image. Based on a recent national study of academic physicists' careers, this paper presents results from in-depth interviews in which respondents at a range of US universities provided detailed accounts of their experience in, and identification with, academe. I study satisfaction from a different angle - through the self-doubts scientists have about their work and careers - and investigate how self-doubts may systematically differ across distinct `social worlds' of the academy. The findings suggest that satisfaction is a more nuanced component of work than previous studies have suggested. I explore satisfaction as a developmental process in which people learn how to narrate their careers in the socially accepted formats that their given world of academic work prescribes.