Crises Unbound: Institutions, Occupational Groups and the Construction of Omnicrises
7 Mar 2025
10:30 -12:00
Times are shown in local time.
Open to: Members of the University of Cambridge
Room W4.05 (Cambridge Judge Business School)
Trumpington St
Cambridge
CB2 1AG
United Kingdom
Join our Strategy and International Business seminar
Speaker: Professor Michel Anteby, Boston University
About the seminar topic
The bulk of occupational stigma research has looked at variations in stigmatisation across occupations. Yet a few studies have noted varying levels of perceived occupational stigma among members within a given occupation. To explore and explain this variation, we focus on South Korean supplementary education workers (such as SAT test-preparation instructors). Relying on archives, observations, and interviews with what Koreans refer to as hagwon teachers, we first document a varying intra-occupational perception of stigma: some teachers view their line of work as highly stigmatised, whereas others less so or not. Our inductive analysis further reveals that teachers’ social class backgrounds explains in part these variations: more specifically, the norms and values that permeate higher-class backgrounds members’ small communities (eg family and peers from prestigious universities) shape teachers stigmatised views of themselves. By contrast, teachers from lower-class backgrounds, despite having earned as prestigious credentials as their fellow higher-class teachers are less embedded in peer communities and, consequently, somewhat buffered from stigmatisation. Out study’s findings call for more attention to the interplay between members’ perceived occupational stigma and the narrower social context (particularly informed by social class) in which the meanings and values associated with work solidify.
Speaker bio
Michel Anteby is a Professor of Management & Organizations at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and Sociology at Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences. He also co-leads Boston University’s Precarity Lab. His research looks at how individuals relate to their work, their occupations and the organisations they belong to. He examines more specifically the practices people engage in at work that help them sustain their chosen cultures or identities. In doing so, his research contributes to a better understanding of how these cultures and identities come to be and manifest themselves. He currently serves as Chair-Elect of the American Sociological Association’s Organizations, Occupation and Work section.
Register
No registration required. If you have any questions about this seminar, please email Luke Slater.