University faculty members train future researchers and produce new knowledge. We show that US faculty members have a parent with a PhD roughly 25 times more often than the general population, with nearly double that rate at prestigious universities. The overrepresentation of socioeconomic privilege is likely to shape scholarship and diversity efforts.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Torche, F. Is a college degree still the great equalizer? Intergenerational mobility across levels of schooling in the United States. Am. J. Sociol. 117, 763–807 (2011). This paper examines intergenerational mobility among the American educational elite.
Weeden, K. A. & Grusky, D. B. The three worlds of inequality. Am. J. Sociol. 117, 1723–1785 (2012). This paper measures class-based and gradational forms of inequality in the US.
Kozlowski, D., Lariviere, V., Sugimoto, C. R. & Monroe-White, T. Intersectional inequalities in science. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2113067119 (2022). This paper quantifies intersectional differences in scholarship.
Way, S. F., Morgan, A. C., Larremore, D. B. & Clauset, A. Productivity, prominence, and the effects of academic environment. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 10729–10733 (2019). This paper shows that institutional prestige drives a researcher’s productivity and prominence.
Morgan, A. C., Economou, D. J., Way, S. F. & Clauset, A. Prestige drives epistemic inequality in the diffusion of scientific ideas. EPJ Data Sci. 7, 40 (2018). This paper shows that ideas spread further when they originate from prestigious institutions.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Morgan, A. C. et al. Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01425-4 (2022).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nearly a quarter of tenure-track faculty have a parent with a PhD. Nat Hum Behav 6, 1611–1612 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01426-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01426-3
