The Convergence of Institutional Logics in Community Colleges: Adjunct Faculty and the Reproduction of Inequities in the Professoriate

Purpose: In this article, we examine the experiences of adjunct faculty in the community college sector and analyze how they use dominant institutional logics to rationalize their decision making and behaviors. We pay particular attention to how adjunct faculty converge dominant institutional logics to explain, and in many instances produce, the disparities they experience. Research Methods/Approach: For this qualitative study, we analyzed interviews from 25 community college adjunct faculty in California, which is the largest community college sector in the United States. Findings: We found that adjuncts in our sample decided to teach in the community college sector because they believed they could make a difference in the educational trajectories of racially diverse students, those attending underresourced schools, or students previously underserved but motivated to learn. However, we also found that adjunct faculty encountered challenges rooted in state and capitalist logics that dehumanized them. Moreover, adjunct faculty experienced tensions between their desire to make a difference and their sense of being exploited by full-time faculty, administrators, and the community college system. Implications: This research contributes to our understanding of the relationship between societal institutional logics and everyday experiences of community college adjunct faculty. It provides empirical evidence for implementing accountability structures to improve adjuncts’ working conditions.