Premium
Structural Strain in Science: Organizational Context, Career Stage, Discipline, and Role Composition
Author(s) -
Johnson David R.,
Vaidyanathan Brandon,
Howard Ecklund Elaine
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/soin.12176
Subject(s) - anomie , context (archaeology) , sociology , work (physics) , composition (language) , strain (injury) , epistemology , social psychology , public relations , positive economics , psychology , political science , economics , engineering , biology , mechanical engineering , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , anatomy
This article examines the relationship between structural strain (the imbalance between actual and preferred conditions of work) and anomie in science (the absence of opportunities to achieve recognition). Using data from a nationally representative survey of physicists and biologists in the United Kingdom ( N = 1,604), we test competing hypotheses about the occupational factors that produce structural strain. We find that structural strain is influenced by organizational context and career stage, but not in the manner existing theory suggests. We elaborate existing theoretical frameworks by showing that role composition mediates the effects of organizational context and career stage.