The Role of Institutional Financial Precarity in Shaping Latine Doctoral Peer Dynamics

• In Event: Latina/o Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable 5: Education, Institutions, and Social Mobility

Abstract

Latines are the largest racial-ethnic minority group in the United States, comprising 19% of the United States’ population and are the second fastest growing racial-ethnic group. Yet, they made up a mere 7% of all Ph.D. degree recipients in 2020, which has only increased by 2% in the past 20 years. Increasing Latine PhD representation is imperative, given the vital role people of color play in driving innovation in research. Latines face unequal and racialized socialization processes while enrolled in doctoral programs, which negatively impacts their social and academic experiences as PhD students. Latine doctoral peers can be a source of academic, social, and professional support. Yet, Latine PhD student peers can also be a source of hostility and marginalization. While we know that peer dynamics play a key role in Latine doctoral socialization, less is known about the role of doctoral programs’ infrastructure play in shaping peer dynamics. My study extends the literature by examining how doctoral funding shapes Latine peer social capital networks and doctoral socialization processes. I employ qualitative longitudinal methodology, which consists of conducting 89 interviews with 30 Latine participants, who are interviewed three times from 2022-2024. The findings suggest that institutional financial precarity plays a salient role in shaping competitive and collaborative peer dynamics. I define institutional financial precarity as lapses in guaranteed institutional financial support for some or all doctoral students in a program. Latines in programs with mixed or competitive peer dynamics reported smaller social circles and feelings of isolation, which limited their social capital. Further, they received less academic and emotional support from peers, which stymied their doctoral socialization process. In contrast, Latines in doctoral programs with collaborative peer dynamics had larger social circles and received holistic support from their peers bolstering their social capital and facilitating their doctoral socialization processes.

Author

• Maricela Bañuelos, University of California, Berkeley