The image of academic researchers in the public sphere: a qualitative study on social status in Pakistan

The study attempts to explore the antecedents and determinants of social position in Pakistan, particularly in the context of the social status of academicians. Given Pakistan has produced 15,000 PhD scholars since 1997, their research contribution is still under question. To explore the proposed phenomena, the researchers adopted the grounded theory approach by collecting data using in-depth interviews via a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 13 people from different academic and occupational backgrounds were interviewed. Interviews were then transcribed and coded using first, second and third-order coding based on InVivo coding style. The researchers found that economic, symbolic, structural, cultural, interpersonal and developmental factors are involved in creating dispositions for a person in the society. According to the PhD academicians, it was explored that the priority of the people is to attain power, influence, and security which according to them lie in the bureaucracy, defence or judiciary whereas working in academia and opting for PhD is not among their priorities, even those who pursue PhDs do it for promotions.