August 2022: Michel Anteby (QST M&O and CAS Sociology)
Michel Anteby is a professor of management & organizations at Questrom School of Business and sociology/CAS (by courtesy). He co-leads Boston University’s Precarity Lab. His research looks at how individuals relate to their work, their occupations, and the organizations they belong to. He examines the practices people engage in at work that help them sustain their chosen cultures or identities. In doing so, his research contributes to a better understanding of how these cultures and identities come to be and manifest themselves. His has appeared in journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Sociological Review, Organization Science, Social Science & Medicine, and Social Forces. He also is the author of two monographs: a study of illegal factory production titled Moral Gray Zones: Side Productions, Identity, and Regulation in an Aeronautics Plant and an ethnography faculty socialization at the Harvard Business School titled Manufacturing Morals: The Values of Silence in Business School Education.
What made you decide to be a social scientist/ why does social science matter to you?
Social sciences offer me lenses to better understand the world around me. And if we have any hope of changing this world, then understanding it is a first step in that direction. When I was younger, I used to take photos and developed them myself to try and see things that I had initially missed. With time, I realize that there were probably better ways to achieve that goal. Journaling, for instance, was another early attempt to grasp my environment. Then, in one of my first jobs out of college, I was lucky to work in Paris with a sociologist hired by government agencies and companies to help them better understand their labor issues. Interviewing and observing people proved thrilling. I was hooked! Shortly after, I applied to graduate school and have tried, ever since, to develop lenses that help us see the world differently.
Can you tell us about a recent research project that you’re excited about?
The changing nature of professions has long been an interest of mine. In part, because they are so robust institutions that any change is a puzzling occurrence. With my co-author Nishani Bourmault, we are examining the adoption of hypnosis by French anesthesiologists. Formal hypnosis involves a person being in a state of modified consciousness, during which one is still conscious but mentally disassociated from one’s actual, physical surroundings. Hypnosis is now used in French operation rooms and is so antithetical to what anesthesiologists learned in medical school that some of them label the practice almost “magical.” Yet many use hypnosis, alongside traditional drugs, to treat their patients. What’s exciting is trying to understand how a century old institution can suddenly change gears.
What is the best piece of professional advice you ever received?
The best piece of advice I received is to work towards where you want to be professionally, not only adapt to the sometimes-unique demands of your current setting. Many academics today face complex career decisions that can involve dual-career issues, immigration constraints, and much more. They also might change jobs several times during their careers. Keeping in mind the bigger picture of what drives you and makes you thrive is key to navigating all these demands and transitions.
What is your favorite course you’ve taught at BU?
My favorite course to teach has been a doctoral seminar titled The Craft of Theorizing Research. It builds participants’ skills at articulating their own arguments and at review those of others. I love the course because it brings students from different BU departments as well as from several local universities together in an intensive format that rapidly creates a strong sub-community. The course’s materials are mainly generated by students, and I learn about topics I know little about. Despite this diversity, we are quickly able to develop a surprisingly cohesive language to discuss these projects and their contributions. More generally, I see sub-communities, like this class, but also CISS, as the vibrant backbone of large universities, like BU.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself.
Despite having grown up in France and having only moved to the United States for graduate school, I have relatively deep roots in the Boston area. My now long-deceased maternal grandparents settled here during World War II to escape from Nazi Germany, and I still cherish the childhood memory of seeing my grandfather treating patients in his dental chair, off Coolidge Corner in Brookline. Also, my parents got married here in Belmont. So, it’s only fitting that I joined BU, and got married here as well!