More job angst...

[reprise]

I came here to post a bitching and moaning thread about my chosen career and how it's being distorted by the media. And then I saw lady cop's thread title and somehow I felt better knowing that I'm not the only person in the world who is suffering career angst right now.

I came here to post that I'm about to chuck in my thesis because my chosen field (Criminology, abnormal psychology) has been made so desirable by the popular media that it's now the most popular course in American universities according to a report I read yesterday. I came here to bitch about the lack of science which underpins the methodology used by the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit and the fact that those unproven methods are now being adopted by police and justice departments worldwide in spite of the fact that the statistics showing a different story than the PR claims.

And do you know what? I am going to finish that damned thesis - because I have half a clue what I'm doing and I chose this field long before it was made *popular* by TV networks. I remain appalled that universities worldwide have "dumbed down" their forensic science courses and their forensic psychology courses in order to cater for a fad, yet I recognise that they did the same thing during the IT boom.

Intellectually, I know that my industry has become popular and a whole lot of companies will spring up which offer "forensic psychology" services to businesses which didn't even think they needed them (they don't) and that those companies will employ people who hold purchaseable degrees.

It still stings, though, when you've spent years working towards a credible degree in what was a fairly obscure field only to suddenly find universities offering a degree with a similar title to anyone who can afford the price. Now I know how the original computer programmers felt when the first IT degrees hit *the market*.

[Weaselboots]

I can imagine that would be frustrating. It does seem that every second science leaning person wants to be Kay Scarpetta. We get work experience kids where i work (Sydney Water), ask them what they want to do at uni and it usually forensics. I'm fascinated by it aswell, but know enough that it wouldn't be all glamour and mystery. Hopefully in time people will realise that and only the serious ones will stick with it.
Whats a "forensic psychology" service? and do i need one?

[lady cop]

Hi Reprise...i think you are spot on to stick to your thesis...the wheat will ultimately be separated from the chaff. your expertise will stand you in good stead, and if i were doing what you are doing i would be sending my curriculum vitae to the FBI. yes, everyone wants to be in CSI Miami, but it's total crap and the behaviourial science unit could use new and original thinking!! it won't come from the diploma mills. it will come from the serious students such as yourself.

[reprise]

It does seem that every second science leaning person wants to be Kay Scarpetta...

One of my least favourite fictional "profilers". At least she can cook, though. She seems to have no understanding whatsoever of basic medicine, but she can whip up the world's best pasta in a heartbeat.

Don't even get me started on CSI - the chain of evidence is so contaminated in that show that it would be thrown out of court at the first appearance.

My thesis is on the topic of "victimology" - an extremely unpopular topic at the moment when everyone thinks that the police databases worldwide can predict who is likely to be a violent offender (they can't). The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by people who are related quite intimately socially - and yet the media attention focuses on what is the exception. You're WAY more likely to die in a car accident than you are to be a truly random murder or rape victim. Chances are that if you do - unfortunately - become a murder or rape victim that the crime will have been committed by someone know to you and an intimate rather than a casual acquaintance.

What nobody wants to hear - and it's the topic of my thesis - is that there is almost no way at all to protect yourself from a true sociopath. And while your chances of being the victim of a violent criminal are much lower than the chances of being injured in a car accident, many people take extraordinary measures to protect themselves against the former while not even taking the most basic precautions against the latter.

[LadyShea]

Reprise, even if this new wave of fad degrees get jobs, it shouldn't take long for them to demonstarte that it's stupid to pay someone who can't help solve any crimes because their methods are shoddy and knowledge lacking.

I think you chose a fascinating filed, and doing well at it will raise the bar for everyone.

This angst thing must be contagious because I have a thread to start too.

[Clutch Munny]

reprise, one thing about very popular fields is that the contrast between the outstanding people and everyone else is often quite clear. Smart, insightful and intellectually responsible researchers will not get lost in the shuffle just because a bunch of Sherlock-come-latelies show up.

[Ensign Steve]

The cool thing about fads is that they go out of fashion as quickly as they come in fashion. My advice is to continue doing what you enjoy, what you've put so much effort into already. Give the fad time to fizzle out, and then you will remain one of the True Forensic Psychologists (tm) who was in it before anyone knew what it was.