The Scrutinizers is a peer learning group that started in October, 2013. The group emerged in an unstructured way. Individuals who met at doctoral seminars, and others who participated in the membership-controlled Consumer Culture Theory (CCT ) Facebook group, initiated a formal study group to learn about the CCT field, discuss current and classic CCT research papers, and expand knowledge of theory and methods in order to publish in high-quality marketing journals. Using digital communication tools and a rotating leadership schedule, the group regularly and systematically analyzes CCT research that has been published in prominent journals. Analysis typically concludes with a virtual meeting with papers’ authors, who are invited to share their experiences conducting and publishing the research.

The group has a formal but somewhat fluid membership, but does not have a formalized approach to membership application and approval. Group composition has remained the same since December, 2015. The members are geographically dispersed across five continents and work in institutional contexts that are distinguished by differing degrees of research intensity, resource access, acceptance of different paradigmatic traditions, and proximity to other CCT scholars. In addition, members have different mobility trajectories and have been socialized, during graduate school, in institutional environments that vary with regard to their orientation vis-à-vis the field.

The group recently wrote an article on the problem of Academic Isolation among Early Career Researchers. They looked at how PhD students, post-docs and assistant professors may feel separated from the academic field to which they aspire to belong.

The group used CCT as a context to discuss how academic isolation is a broader problem than sometimes recognized with important implications for well-being and productivity. They point to tactics that ECRs can use to better integrate into the CCT field. They also articulate the strategies that core actors in the field have used to facilitate ECRs' integration and make CCT inclusive.

The article is available for download from the Academy of Management Learning and Education website: https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amle.2017.0329

Here's a short version of the article published on The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/overworked-and-isolated-the-rising-epidemic-of-loneliness-in-academia-110009