Anna Stansbury and Kyra Rodriquez have released a new working paper on large class gaps in hiring and tenure decisions at "R1" institutions.
Some highlights:
Obstacles in job searches:
But large class gaps in tenure institution type persist even conditional on very detailed controls for research quantity and quality, suggesting that lower SEB academics are “underplaced” relative to their research record.
And the suggestion of exclusion from professional networks affecting research productivity:
Analyzing coauthor networks, we find strongly suggestive evidence that it is more difficult for lower-SEB academics to form valuable professional networks.
The authors find similar gaps in pay and career progression for PhDs who leave academia for private industry.
This paper adds to prior research on a professorate overwhelming coming from privileged backgrounds who then act as gatekeepers for others.
And I fully concur with the authors that much more attention should be paid to social class research on inequalities of opportunity, even as little data on class is now collected in DEI work on campuses and beyond,
