Divergent Trajectories

Divergent Trajectories: Devotion, Excellence, and Inequality in Academic STEM

Mary Blair-Loy (UC San Diego) and Erin A. Cech (University of Michigan)

Summary:

Mary Blair-Loy and Erin A. Cech examine the cultural definition of scientific merit and its consequences for inequality. They focus on the case of highly-rated STEM faculty in a public research university. Like many others, this university lauds its fairness in rewarding the best and brightest faculty. It provides an exemplar case to examine whether and how unequal outcomes for faculty occur alongside the university’s commitments to objectivity and excellence.

The research team collected organizational data and conducted surveys and 85 interviews with STEM faculty. It also measured the scholarly productivity and impact of each person in the sample.

Drawing on these data, the researchers argue that beliefs about devotion to work and culturally acceptable demonstrations of scientific excellence can create barriers to fairly evaluating faculty who are underrepresented racial minorities, LGBT, and/or women. The project shows how social biases can be built into definitions of scientific merit. Despite beliefs that the assessment of merit is race- and gender-blind, disciplinary schemas of scientific excellence and work devotion generally give white, heterosexual men more credit, while creating barriers to hiring and fairly evaluating other faculty with the same credentials. Cultural beliefs about excellence and worthiness can create and reinforce inequalities among scientists and undercut the best science.

Results

1. Cech, Erin A. Mary Blair-Loy and Laura Rogers. 2017. “Recognizing Chilliness: How Schemas of Inequality Shape Views of Culture and Climate in Work Environments.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology online first.

This study shows that the recognition of chilly department and disciplinary climates does not simply emerge from personal experiences of marginalization. Across different demographic groups, professors who are aware of systematic disadvantages for women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in STEM are more likely than colleagues without that awareness to recognize chilly climates at work that negatively affect these groups, —even if they do not personally experience marginalization. This research suggests that greater awareness of disadvantage can be a step toward creating change in departments and disciplines that systematically marginalize women and other underrepresented groups.

2. Cech, Erin A. and Mary Blair-Loy. 2014. “Consequences of Flexibility Stigma among Academic Scientists and Engineers.”

Work and Occupations 41: 86-110.

This study shows the persistence and power of the work devotion schema – or cultural value of demonstrating commitment to one’s career above all other pursuits – even in departments that provide flexibility. This “flexibility stigma” is one harsh consequence for faculty who are seen to violate the work devotion schema. Professors in this sample who reported flexibility stigma in their department were less likely to want to remain at the university and were less satisfied with their work. This was true regardless of their gender and family status. The flexibility stigma thereby affects entire departments, parents and non-parents alike. Learn more in Inside Higher Ed and Work in Progress.

3. Blair-Loy, Mary and Erin A. Cech. "Misconceiving Merit: Paradoxes of Excellence and Devotion in Academic Science and Engineering" (forthcoming)

In this forthcoming work, the authors examine the definitions of merit within academic STEM professional culture. They find that aspects of academic STEM culture can be usefully analyzed as cultural schemas. Cultural schemas are shared, taken-for-granted understandings that inform and justify organizational policies and resource distribution. The book identifies and analyzes two schemas that shape scientists’ definitions of merit: the work devotion schema and the schema of scientific excellence.

The work devotion schema is a cultural mandate that requires faculty to express unwavering dedication to one’s profession above all other life commitments, including family caregiving. The authors find negative consequences for faculty who are seen as not measuring up to the schemas of work devotion. Mothers of young children are often stigmatized as less devoted to their careers, even though mothers’ actual scholarly productivity is similar to that of other faculty. Further, we find that mothers are often paid less than otherwise similar colleagues who are not mothers.

The schema of scientific excellence defines certain characteristics as markers of excellence within academic STEM disciplines. The highest valuation goes to faculty who seem to have creative brilliance and assertive self-promotion. The least valued characteristics are caring about improving society and promoting diversity.

These are subjective, cultural beliefs, and they are not related to actual scholarly productivity. Nonetheless, the authors find negative consequences for faculty who are not seen as measuring up to the creative brilliance and assertive self-promotion standards of the schema of scientific excellence. Broader social biases assuming that heterosexual white men are the most likely be creatively brilliant and assertive translate into higher rewards for these men, on average, compared to other colleagues. However, many women, especially women of color, are penalized for assertiveness. Finally, the authors find barriers to full inclusion for many LGBT faculty, in part because colleagues see LGBT identity as politicizing the goals of objective research.

Funder: National Science Foundation (Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.)