Everyone’s burdens to bear?: How race, gender and generational status shape faculty experiences with invisible labor

Research shows that women and scholars of color do more invisible labor in the academy than their peers. While previous research focuses on race and gender, we employ open-ended survey responses from 478 faculty members to examine how social class shapes their experiences. Class disadvantage amplifies differences, but does so unevenly. Among faculty of color, we see heightened reports of invisible labor as well as exposure to trauma through service, but we do not observe similar class differences among White respondents. In all, we show that first-generation faculty of color report experiencing the greatest exposure to trauma through service. Accounting for social class deepens not only our understanding of the uneven toll of invisible labor, but also barriers to advancement and mobility within the academy.