Books
Reed N. Wright

Disciplined Minds, by Jeff Schmidt (©2000). This "critical look at salaried professionals and the soul-battering system that shapes their lives" actually got its author fired from Physics Today. You can read all about it at the website: disciplinedminds.tripod.com.

The text itself? Well, it's my life story: "the most difficult part about becoming a professional is adopting the professional attitude and learning to be comfortable adhering to the given ideological framework" (p. 148). This fact is probably well-known even to people who've never worked in the fields here considered . . . but I can hardly even begin to tell you how refreshing it is to see it so clearly presented, with careful documentation.

My favorite part was probably Chapter 12 (" 'Neutral' Voices"), which explains the role of colleges in "cooling out the mark" -- a phrase, made famous by sociologist Erving Goffman, describing that essential step in a con game wherein victims are assisted in dealing with their status as victims. "The U.S. socioeconomic system, like the hustler, makes false promises, the principal one being that social mobility is available to all who work hard . . . It is vital to the system that the losers serve the hierarchy respectfully . . . when they find themselves with jobs that have lower social status than the society of `unlimited oportunity' had led them to expect. Cooling out is therefore an integral part of the socioeconomic system.".

Other chapters, for example, debunk the notion of the political liberality of the professions, describe the "social significance concealment" that makes thinking the unthinkable a matter of routine, and examine the indoctrination processes of graduate school (and how to resist them). There's a good index and even a few cartoons. Dig it if you still can.