Professional Identity and Professionalization in Archaeology

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND PROFESSIONALIZATION IN ARCHAEOLOGY: A SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Megan Shaeffer December 2016 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Megan Kathleen Shaeffer B.A. Ohio State University 1998 M.A. University of York, 2002 M.A. Kent State University 2012 Ph.D. Kent State University 2016 Approved by Dr. Susan Roxburgh , Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Clare Stacey , Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Richard Adams Dr. Matt Lee Dr. Tim Matney Dr. Richard S. Meindl Accepted by Dr. Richard Serpe , Chair, Department of Sociology Dr. James L. Blank , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... viii CHAPTERS Page 1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Research Design Overview .................................................................................................5 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................6 Working Assumptions .........................................................................................................6 Chapter Overview ................................................................................................................7 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................11 Sociological Approaches to Professions and Professionalization .....................................11 Case Studies: Professionalization in Medicine .................................................................21 Ethnographic Work in Archaeology ..................................................................................25 Summary ............................................................................................................................29 3 AN OVERVIEW OF ARCHAEOLOGY ..........................................................................31 An Introduction to the Profession ......................................................................................31 What is Archaeology? ........................................................................................................31 iii Becoming an Archaeologist ...............................................................................................40 Archaeological Reality and Romance ................................................................................44 Summary ............................................................................................................................54 4 METHODS ........................................................................................................................56 Research Questions ............................................................................................................56 Sample and Setting ............................................................................................................56 A Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................68 Data Collection Methods ...................................................................................................72 Data Analysis and Organization ........................................................................................75 Positionality and Ethics.....................................................................................................78 The Credibility of the Data ................................................................................................83 Summary ............................................................................................................................85 5 YESTERDAY'S PERSON: AN EXAMINATION OF GENERAL HABITUS ..............87 Primary Habitus and Early Disposition ............................................................................90 Archaeology and the Romance of Discovery ....................................................................92 Physical Environment and Habitus ....................................................................................96 Hands-on Learning...........................................................................................................101 Intellectual Curiosity ........................................................................................................105 Summary ..........................................................................................................................107 6 TODAY'S ARCHAEOLOGIST: THE SPECIFIC HABITUS OF THE PROFESSIONAL ............................................................................................................109 iv Adaptability......................................................................................................................112 Commitment ....................................................................................................................118 Learning By Doing ..........................................................................................................126 Stoicism............................................................................................................................130 Summary ..........................................................................................................................136 7 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL AND THE FIELD OF HABITUS ......138 Training to Meet Normative Expectations .......................................................................143 Training to Meet Quasi-normative Expectations .............................................................155 Training to Meet Technical Standards .............................................................................162 Training for Analytical Skills/Decision-making ..............................................................168 Summary ..........................................................................................................................172 8 DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS .....................................................................................175 Discussion on Findings, Implications, Limitations, and Future Research .......................175 Implications of the Findings ............................................................................................181 Limitations of the Study...................................................................................................184 Future Research ...............................................................................................................187 Final Thoughts .................................................................................................................189 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................190 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL TERMS ...........................................197 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORMS ..........................................................................................200 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ...............................................................................211 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 An example of surface or pedestrian survey ......................................................................35 2 An example of an archaeological plan for shovel testing ..................................................37 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 The demographic composition of the students and staff included in the Ethnographic portion of the study. The researcher is included in the totals. ....................59 2 Race and gender of the interview subjects. ........................................................................65 3 The age breakdown of the interviewed CRM and academic archaeologists. ....................66 4 Degrees held by the interview subjects. .............................................................................67 5 Income breakdown for interview subjects, numbers indicate thousands. Note: some interview subjects worked part-time or seasonally and had variable Incomes based on the availability of work. .......................................................................68 6 Employment Status of interview subjects. .........................................................................68 7 Codes, subcodes, and axial codes leading to core research constructs. .............................77 8 Number of interview subjects who discussed elements of general habitus. ......................91 9 Number of interview subjects who discussed elements of specific habitus. ...................111 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my family for their love and support during the ups and downs of

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