A lack of career opportunities and long spells of temporary employment are seen as major problems in science, and are thought to decrease the attractiveness of the scientific profession. In... Show more A lack of career opportunities and long spells of temporary employment are seen as major problems in science, and are thought to decrease the attractiveness of the scientific profession. In the long run, this could hurt countries’ ability to conduct high-quality research and innovation. This dissertation examines the origin and effects of the preponderance of junior and temporary jobs in science. The research described in the dissertation shows how career prospects and employment conditions have changed in Germany since the emergence of the research university, and how publications careers of PhD graduates have changed in the United States since the 1950s. Furthermore, the dissertation describes how career prospects and employment conditions affect the job choice of recent PhD graduates. Women are more negative about career prospects and employment conditions in science and are therefore more affected by these issues when choosing a job. In addition, the dissertation describes how student status of PhD candidates limits the availability of material research infrastructure. Finally, the research in the dissertation shows that temporary employment decreases job satisfaction and affects the personal life of PhD graduates. Show less
This research elucidates various responses of the Yao to the social consequences of civilizing projects historically implemented by a powerful ‘Other’ to them, that is, the successive... Show more This research elucidates various responses of the Yao to the social consequences of civilizing projects historically implemented by a powerful ‘Other’ to them, that is, the successive Chinese imperial and post-imperial states. The Yao are one of the 56 nationalities in today’s China. The research reveals that the Yao’s reactions to the state’s civilizing force are gendered, as manifested in a religious domain. The research shows that Yao men embrace the power of ‘otherness’ that an imperial Daoist cosmology and manuscripts in Chinese entail, while Yao women sustain indigenous culture and belief by ‘singing’. A textual analysis of the probable products of female singing—narratives about goddesses of fertility—points to two types of Yao reaction in the position of women. On the one hand, the narratives embody a symbolic ‘space of negotiation’ in which Yao struggle to claim their agency, but the natural power of female fertility that symbolizes the layer of indigenous culture and belief is eventually domesticated. On the other hand, the narratives convey Yao’s criticisms of the social consequences of imperial Chinese state governance, imposed in the form of patrilineal ideology in marriage and kinship, showing also how different women sought their escape from that. Show less
