The Occupational Structure of Science: a Log-Linear Analysis of the Inter-sectoral Mobility of American Sociologists

The occupational structure of science is conceptualized as consisting of four sectors within which the career patterns of two cohorts of sociologists are examined. Using an origin criterion, receipt of the Ph.D. from an American university, to define the cohorts, we analyze the effects of various factors on sectoral immobility—which has been the norm for three decades—and mobility. In general, structural factors supersede individual differences in explaining observed movement. Moreover, the evidence underscores the “university bias” that has dominated studies of stratification in science. This suggests that the prestige of sociological work and the sectoral contexts in which it is performed be reevaluated, particularly in view of the current glut of the academic sectors.