000			02124nam a2200205Ia 4500
999			_c177394 _d177394
005			20220106214908.0
008			200208s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9781412853019
082			_a302.3 OLE
100			_aOleinik,Anton
245		0	_aKnowledge and Networking _b On communication in the Social Sciences
260			_aNew Jersey
260			_bTransaction Publishers
260			_c2014
300			_a238p.
365			_dINR
520			_aSuccess and career growth in academic life depend upon reaching and influencing the widest audience possible. To do so, scientists strive to develop personalized trust. They do so by establishing a large number of connections through networking and also through the strength of their arguments and the validity and reliability of their research. To secure increasingly rare tenure positions and achieve salary increases, promotions, and recognition, scholars place themselves on a continuum of priorities ranging from total emphasis on networking to complete focus on advancing knowledge, trying to find some middle ground between the two extremes. Anton Oleinik argues that when scholars prioritize networking, science reproduces features of a "small world," in which personal connections prevail. Who knows whom matters more than who knows what. In this scenario, one's status derives more from affiliation with a specific group of scholars or a particular university than from contributing to advancing knowledge. Acknowledging that it would be a mistake to consider networking the main source of evils in science, Oleinik instead criticizes the decisions scholars make while struggling to find that middle ground between networking and advancing knowledge, and managing conflicts between these priorities. The fierce competition for increasingly scarce research funds, and the difficulty of finding jobs in academia underlines the growing importance of the choices made by an academic. Though Oleinik focuses particularly on the social sciences, his ideas are just as relevant to other disciplinary areas.
650			_aSocial networks
942			_cB _2ddc