Social Science Professions and Professionalization

Educational Research, The Field of

“…Education research professionals are dominantly in universities (79.2%), with the next categories being considerably lower (school systems at 7.2%, R & D organizations at 3.9%, government at 1.4%, and industry/business at 0.6%). The presence of education research professionals in universities is higher than for professionals overall in science and engineering fields (45%) and more comparable to some (though not all) fields of social science, including political science, sociology, and anthropology (see Levine and Bell, 2015). Indeed, the AERA data are consistent with the 2012 membership data from the ASA where 79.6% of employed members were in the academy.…”

“…In comparison, across the social sciences, approximately 22% of the 2012 doctorates were persons of color. As reported by Levine and Bell (2015), there is considerable variation in minorities earning doctorate degrees in the social sciences by discipline. Social science fields ranged from those with overall low numbers of minorities earning doctorates (anthropology and political science with 15.9% and 15.7%, respectively) to those more similar to education research (psychology, economics, and sociology with 21.4%, 23.5%, and 27%, respectively) (S&ED, 2012: Table 24).…”

“…It is consistent with the profile presented above for recent doctorates. Of the AERA membership, approximately 65% are female and 35% male, reflecting general patterns and trends in some (e.g., sociology and psychology), but not all, of the social sciences (Levine and Bell, 2015). In terms of race and ethnicity, 67.4% of the AERA membership is non-Hispanic white, 10.7% is Asian/Pacific Islander, 8.4% is AfricanAmerican, and approximately 6.1% is Hispanic.…”

“…At the undergraduate and master's levels, students primarily pursue education degrees in order to enter the teaching profession in elementary or high school settings. In general, undergraduates in the social sciences are less anchored on scientific careers within their fields than in other fields of science (Levine and Bell, 2015). At the bachelor's level in education, programs are focused on teacher preparation, and thus even a lower proportion of students receive initial exposure to research or to becoming research professionals.…”

Professionalizing Multimodal Composition

“…To begin with, Felice J. Levine and Nathan E. Bell (2015), in their article "Social Sciences Professions and Professionalization," define professionalization as "the development of skills, identities, norms, and values associated with becoming part of a professional group" (679). They note that through professionalization, "individuals pursuing careers in specific social sciences acquire both substantive and methodological knowledge and develop understandings of their roles that permit them to function as professionals in their fields" (679).…”