Career gatekeeping in cultural fields
This paper presents a comparative analysis of career gatekeeping processes in two cultural fields. Drawing on data on appointment procedures in German academia and booking processes in North American stand-up comedy, we compare how gatekeepers in two widely different contexts evaluate and select can...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
American journal of cultural sociology
Year: 2019, Volume: 9, Issue: 1, Pages: 43-69 |
| ISSN: | 2049-7121 |
| DOI: | 10.1057/s41290-019-00078-7 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-019-00078-7
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| Author Notes: | Julian Hamann, Stefan Beljean |
| Summary: | This paper presents a comparative analysis of career gatekeeping processes in two cultural fields. Drawing on data on appointment procedures in German academia and booking processes in North American stand-up comedy, we compare how gatekeepers in two widely different contexts evaluate and select candidates for established positions in their respective field and validate their decisions. Focusing on three types of gatekeeping practices that have been documented in prior research—typecasting, comparison, and legitimization—our analysis reveals major differences in how gatekeepers perform these practices across our two cases: (1) typecasting based on ascriptive categories versus professional criteria, (2) comparisons that are ad-hoc and holistic versus systematic and guided by performance criteria, and (3) legitimation by means of ritualization versus transparency. We argue that these differences are related to the social and organizational context in which gatekeepers make selection decisions, including differences in the structure of academic and creative careers and the organization of the respective labor markets in which these careers unfold. These findings contribute to scholarship on gatekeeping in cultural fields by providing comparative insights into the work of career gatekeepers and the social organization of career gatekeeping processes. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 24.03.2023 Published online: 23 July 2019 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2049-7121 |
| DOI: | 10.1057/s41290-019-00078-7 |