Habitus formation and perceived academic norms of Hungarian communication scholars

Abstract

Communication education has a long history in most Western societies, but its development dates back only a few decades in Central and Eastern Europe. Taking Hungary as a case study, this paper investigates how young communication scholars perceive the quality of their education, the norms of their academic field and their future career prospects. Building on 15 semi-structured interviews, our study found that young Hungarian academics perceive severe contradictions within the field of communication studies and, most importantly, contradictions between international and regional habitus and norms. The perceived struggle between international and regional norms and habitus forms an ambivalent field in which family background, international mobility, financial circumstances and future career plans play a more crucial role in habitus formation than formal education.