Part-Time Faculty 1
Understanding “Part-Time” Faculty
through Identity Borderlands of Self, Work, and Society
INTRODUCTION
Among the variety of changes in the nature of work in recent decades has been a notable
increase in the hire of part-time employees and a reduction of the full-time workforce (Beck,
2000). “Part-time” is most well known as an economic label, but this tells us little about the lived
experience and social meaning of “part-timeness.” By using the conceptual identity borderlands
of self, work, and society, this study explores the lived experiences and social understandings of
part-time work among adjunct faculty in higher education.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In order to explore the identity of “part-time,” this study incorporates a communication
model I designed that is based on a constitutive view of identity (Mokros, 2002). Figure 1
presents the constitutive communication framework of identity that offers a constitutive view of
identity that is positioned within the communicative activities of self-presentation and statements
of others.
Figure 1. Constitutive communication framework of identity.
IDENTITY
WORK
SELF SOCIETY
Self-Presentations
Statements of Others
Reflection Discourse
Interaction