2021/01/25 by Lynette Pretorius, Luke Macaulay · 1 voice · 1 citation
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions #Higher Education Practises and Engagement #Social and Cultural Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1080/00221546.2020.1854605
openalex publication_date 2021/01/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
An important component of PhD students’ educational experiences is the understanding they develop of their academic identity. In this study, we explore PhD students’ expectations and lived realities during their studies through the lens of Bourdieu’s theory of practice. We show that doctoral students perceive the PhD as an all-consuming endeavor and, at the same time, a degree of competing demands. Importantly, several doctoral students’ academic identities were laden with conceptions of marginalization, which evoked feelings of disempowerment and lead to a lack of agency. Therefore, this study advocates for a doctoral environment where different forms of human capital are valued and the voices of PhD students are respected within the academy. This will ensure that future scholars are able to enter the academy with a strong sense of who they are and where they fit within their field.