Deindividualising imposter syndrome: imposter work among marginalised STEMM undergraduates in the UK
Author(s)
Murray, Orla Meadhbh
Chiu, Yuan-Li Tiffany
Wong, Billy
Horsburgh, Jo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Imposter syndrome is the experience of persistently feeling like a fraud despite one’s achievements. This article explores student experiences of imposter syndrome, based on 27 interviews with marginalised STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) undergraduates at two pre-1992 elite UK universities. We argue that imposter feelings are a form of unevenly distributed emotional work, which we call imposter work. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s ‘diversity work’ concept we explore how marginalised students’ imposter feelings are often in response to, and reinforced by, the exclusionary atmosphere of university, resulting in more imposter work to survive and thrive at university. Three key themes are explored – the situated and relational nature of imposter feelings; the uneven distribution of imposter work; and the myth of individual overcoming – before concluding with suggestions for collective responses to addressing imposter feelings.
Date Issued
2023-08-01
Date Acceptance
2022-06-01
Citation
Sociology, 2023, 57 (4), pp.749-766
ISSN
0038-0385
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
749
End Page
766
Journal / Book Title
Sociology
Volume
57
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Request permissions for this article.
License URL
Subjects
diversity work
higher education
imposter syndrome
inequality
Social Sciences
Sociology
STEMM
students
UK universities
WOMEN
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-10-07