Who does Academic Inequality Hurt More? Examining Academic Placement by Professorial Rank, Gender, and Discipline

• In Event: 118 - Section on Economic Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 19. Social Stratification in Labor Markets

Abstract

Academia has been described as a durable caste system of inequality where faculty members’ career prospects are deeply circumscribed by the prestige of the department where they received their doctoral degree. Despite what we know about the hierarchical nature of academia, however, one crucial question remains unanswered: for whom is academia more of a caste system? Using a network analytic approach, I examine if the effect of academic prestige hierarchies varies by professorial rank and gender across four disciplines: Business, Computer Science, History, and Sociology. On the basis of rigorous statistical models I find (1) US News is a far superior predictor of placements than NRC rankings, (2) Sociology is more status conscious than other disciplines, (3) Women, especially in Computer Science and Business, are much more beholden to the prestige of their academic degree than men, (4) Full male professors are least vulnerable to the prestige of their doctoral degree. By comparison, full female professors’ jobs are closely connected to the reputation of their degree-granting department.

Author

• Neha Gondal, Boston University