This research is focused on professional development opportunities for young academics who teach in German universities. The analysis shows how academics reconstruct the relation between teaching and research under given structural conditions of the academic labor market, and how they make career decisions.

This study is an empirical and a theoretical contribution to academic labor market research in the social and educational sciences. The main focus is the situation of young academics who teach at German universities. Both the role of research and teaching in the academic labor market as well as opportunities for professional development in academia and beyond for those who teach are investigated. The study reveals how structures of the academic labor market, including academic culture, affect career decisions and development opportunities of young academics. The findings demonstrate how academics reconstruct the relation between teaching and research in their practice and how they seek new ways in making teaching meaningful in their working lives. The monograph proposes a model for evaluating the agency of academics and identifies the potential for social innovations in academia.

Autorentext

Natalia Karmaeva studied Economic Sociology and Labor Economics in Saint Petersburg. She did research in Human Development at Bielefeld University (Germany) and also was a visiting scholar at Oxford University. Currently she is a researcher in the international research project The Changing Academic Profession at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Inhalt

Contents: Academic Labor Market Academic Work German Universities Agency of Young Academics Capability Approach Academic Teaching and Research Qualitative Methods Academic Careers.