Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK
We start out from Harriet Zuckerman’s study of the US scientific ultra-elite of Nobel laureates, in which Robert Merton's idea of ‘Matthew effects’ as a key mechanism in the creation of social inequalities was first introduced. We then consider two issues arising from critical commentary on thi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Routledge
2024
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| _version_ | 1811140083198197760 |
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| author | Bukodi, E Goldthorpe, JH Steinberg, I |
| author_facet | Bukodi, E Goldthorpe, JH Steinberg, I |
| author_sort | Bukodi, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | We start out from Harriet Zuckerman’s study of the US scientific ultra-elite of Nobel laureates, in which Robert Merton's idea of ‘Matthew effects’ as a key mechanism in the creation of social inequalities was first introduced. We then consider two issues arising from critical commentary on this study by Elisabeth Crawford, a historian of science. First, how far can a scientific ultra-elite be shown to exist as a collectivity that is socially distinctive? Second, how far is Zuckerman’s account of the formation of the US ultra-elite trough ‘bilateral associative selection’ between scientific masters and their would-be apprentices historically specific to the US? In the UK case, we compare the social origins and educational careers of members of two possible scientific ultra-elites, defined by differing degrees of stringency, with those of other elite scientists. We find that as one moves from the elite to the less stringently defined ultra-elite, there is little evidence of increasing social stratification but that such evidence does emerge in moving to the more stringently defined ultra-elite. We also show through two contrasting Cambridge case studies, that the underlying social processes that Zuckerman identifies in ultra-elite formation in the US are also present in these UK contexts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:19:27Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:f7a28a5d-b8fd-44ee-8a7f-56474be14669 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:16:20Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f7a28a5d-b8fd-44ee-8a7f-56474be146692024-07-18T10:43:01ZSocial stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UKJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f7a28a5d-b8fd-44ee-8a7f-56474be14669EnglishSymplectic ElementsRoutledge2024Bukodi, EGoldthorpe, JHSteinberg, IWe start out from Harriet Zuckerman’s study of the US scientific ultra-elite of Nobel laureates, in which Robert Merton's idea of ‘Matthew effects’ as a key mechanism in the creation of social inequalities was first introduced. We then consider two issues arising from critical commentary on this study by Elisabeth Crawford, a historian of science. First, how far can a scientific ultra-elite be shown to exist as a collectivity that is socially distinctive? Second, how far is Zuckerman’s account of the formation of the US ultra-elite trough ‘bilateral associative selection’ between scientific masters and their would-be apprentices historically specific to the US? In the UK case, we compare the social origins and educational careers of members of two possible scientific ultra-elites, defined by differing degrees of stringency, with those of other elite scientists. We find that as one moves from the elite to the less stringently defined ultra-elite, there is little evidence of increasing social stratification but that such evidence does emerge in moving to the more stringently defined ultra-elite. We also show through two contrasting Cambridge case studies, that the underlying social processes that Zuckerman identifies in ultra-elite formation in the US are also present in these UK contexts. |
| spellingShingle | Bukodi, E Goldthorpe, JH Steinberg, I Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title | Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title_full | Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title_fullStr | Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title_short | Social stratification in science: the ultra-elite in the UK |
| title_sort | social stratification in science the ultra elite in the uk |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bukodie socialstratificationinsciencetheultraeliteintheuk AT goldthorpejh socialstratificationinsciencetheultraeliteintheuk AT steinbergi socialstratificationinsciencetheultraeliteintheuk |