Materiality, affect, and space : dialogues with discursive social psychology

Peer reviewe

Materiality, affect, and space : dialogues with discursive social psychology

Peer reviewe

The reproduction of gender differences in early career choices and professional identity of young dentist in Finland

Introduction For over the last 20 years, approximately 70% of working dentists in Finland have been women. However, there is internal division of the profession along gender lines. Female dentists work more often in the public sector and male dentists in the private sector. The aim of this study was to investigate the gender differences in young dentists' early career choices, specialization plans, values and perceptions of professional identity. Materials and methods The data were taken from a national e-mail questionnaire study called "Young Dentist," which was sent to 458 dentists who had received their licence to practise dentistry in 2014-2016 from all four universities with dental curricula in Finland. A total of 52% young dentists (n = 238) answered the questionnaire. Results and discussion The results indicated that whereas female dentists were more likely to perceive themselves as comforters, social workers and health promoters, male dentists tended to perceive themselves as technicians. These professional identities were interrelated with early-stage career choices in which female dentists worked more often in the public than in the private sector when compared to male dentists. There were also clear gender differences in the importance of values and the specialization plans of the young dentists. Conclusion Young dentists in Finland make career choices and develop professional identity in accordance with the attributes traditionally associated with cultural ideals related to femininity and masculinity.Peer reviewe

Voicing experiences of ageist nonrecognition in performance appraisal interaction : complexities in constructing stories that counteract organisational ignorance

A growing line of research aims to give voice to employees’ experiences of ageism at work. This article complements this body of research by demonstrating how voicing experiences of ageism, and hence counteracting organisational ignorance towards ageism, can be a complex discursive endeavour. Ageist experiences can be based on subtle interactional exchanges at the workplace, including other workers’ nonrecognition (e.g. ostracism). We suggest that experiences of nonrecognition can be a source of what we call interactionally troublesome exchanges (ITEs), that is, instances of social interaction that a worker experiences as problematic, although the social violations of the interaction partner may be difficult to report to others (e.g. supervisors) who lack the same first-hand experience. We argue that the difficulties of reporting ageist nonrecognition are anchored in cultural and institutional expectations that undermine the organisational ‘tellability’ of stories that aim to describe colleagues’ subtle acts and omissions in daily workplace encounters.Peer reviewe