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The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from U.S. Academia

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  • Stansbury, Anna
  • Rodriguez, Kyra

Abstract

Unlike gender or race, class background is rarely a focus of research on career progression, or of DEI efforts in elite occupations. Should it be? In this paper we document a large class gap in career progression in one occupation—U.S. tenure-track academia—using parental education to proxy for class background. First-generation college graduates are 10% less likely to be tenured at an R1, are tenured at institutions ranked 11% lower, earn 3% less, and report 5% lower job satisfaction, than their former Ph.D. classmates (from the same institution and field) with a parent with a non-Ph.D. graduate degree. Neither selection out of academia nor different preferences explain this gap; differential research productivity also plays little role. Instead, likely drivers are differences in cultural and social capital. We also find a class gap in career progression for Ph.D.s who work in industry, suggesting this phenomenon generalizes outside academia. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

Suggested Citation

  • Stansbury, Anna & Rodriguez, Kyra, 2026. "The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from U.S. Academia," SocArXiv ugdjf_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ugdjf_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ugdjf_v1
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