Is there really something new? Academic careers in France 1976-2006
Résumé
Most if not all publications on the academic profession conclude that it is experiencing major changes.
In order to try and evaluate the scope and nature of this change a research has been led by C. Musselin with two colleagues (Frédérique Pigeyre and Mareva Sabatier) that first compares cohorts of French academics getting a first academic position in business studies, history and physics in 1976-1977, 1986-1987, 1996-1997, 2006-2007. While important variations were expected from one cohort to another, the statistic and econometrical treatment of different data basis collected for each cohort reveals that the profiles of those getting a first position are rather stable. Nevertheless, the biographical interviews led with some members of the four cohorts lead to different conclusions and show that behind the stable profiles, the individual trajectories of those getting a first academic position have deeply evolved. In order to explain these two apparently contradictory results, reflections on the dynamics of segmentation on academic labour markets will be developed.