Glass Ceilings in Sociology: Evidence from a Network Analysis of Acknowledgments in Leading Journals

• In Event: 256 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 15. Social Networks

Abstract

A large body of literature investigates how women entered the professions and whether women have achieved parity with men. We contribute to this literature by asking: how successful have women been in becoming gatekeepers in academia? We attempt to answer this question through an analysis of acknowledgments in 7,698 journal articles published in five leading sociology journals. We code for the gender of people acknowledged by the authors and construct the network of individuals acknowledged in elite sociology. We construe this as a measure of status and influence in the field. Those frequently sought out by authors are likely to be perceived as illustrious and knowledgeable. We find that the absolute number of women has increased in the network during 1980 to 2012. However, we also find evidence of a persistent gap between men and women in their positions within this network. This suggests that there remains a glass ceiling in sociology - women may enter the field, but are not as likely to be sought or recognized for advice.

Authors

• Quincy Thomas Stewart, Northwestern University

• Saheli Nath, Northwestern University