The Changing Meanings of Authenticity: An Interpretive Biography of Professors’ Work Experiences

Abstract

This paper contributes to the symbolic interactionist literature on authenticity and the self by drawing from ethnographic research conducted with 46 faculty members at an American public research university. I offer an analysis of the changing meanings of professors’ sense of self across careers, ranks, and hiring cohorts and I suggest the following: (a) professors’ experiences of authenticity and inauthenticity remain similarly frequent throughout their careers; (b) professors’ concept of true self changes considerably from the time they are hired to the time they retire; (c) younger professors need to face different demands and challenges than older professors, as they need to adapt to a different academic social world marked by new practices and conventions surrounding tenure, research, teaching, and service.

Citation

Vannini, P. (2006), "The Changing Meanings of Authenticity: An Interpretive Biography of Professors’ Work Experiences", Denzin, N.K. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 29), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-2396(06)29008-2