The Outer Circle; Women in the Scientific Community

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 351, [1[] pages. Figures. Table. Notes. Bibliographical References. Contributors, Index. Inscription signed by two of the editors on the fep. Inscription reads September 19, 1991 For Leah -- who understands--and has been supportive from the beginning Harriet and Jonathan. Date stamped inside front cover. Essays discuss the role of women in science, examine the reasons women scientists fare less well than their male counterparts, and introduce the theory of limited differences. Harriet Anne Zuckerman (born July 19, 1937) is an American sociologist and professor emerita of Columbia University. Zuckerman specializes in the sociology of science. She is known for her work on the social organization of science, scientific elites, the accumulation of advantage, the Matthew effect, and the phenomenon of multiple discovery. Zuckerman served as the Senior Vice President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation from 1991 to 2010, overseeing the Foundation's grant program in support of research, libraries and universities. She is known as an authority for her studies of educational programs, and her support of research universities, scholarship in the humanities, graduate educational programs, research libraries, and other centers for advanced study. Jonathan R. Cole (born August 27, 1942), is an American sociologist, John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University at Columbia University. He is known for his scholarly work developing the sociology of science and his work on science policy. From 1989 to 2003 he was Columbia's chief academic officer - its Provost and Dean of Faculties. The chapters in Part I tell of the position of women in American science now and in the recent past. The second part examines the vexing question of the comparative research productivity of men and women scientists, while the third moves beyond science to treat professional women more generally. Part IV sets out a theory to account for disparities in the contributions of men and women scientists. Taken together, these varied papers describe the uncertain role women continue to play in science and the respects in which they remain in its outer circle. Derived from a Kirkus review: The message here could be summed up as: You've come a long way, baby, but you've still got a long way to go. In this appraisal of the status of women in science, Columbia sociologists Zuckerman and Cole, together with Bruer (president of the McDonnell Foundation), have collected papers from Macy Foundation symposia of the mid-80's that provide rich and penetrating analyses of what has happened to women since the civil-rights and women's movements, and how this compares with the earlier status quo. No question, women have made gains; they are accepted routinely in medical, law, and business schools. Moreover, the analyses indicate that women who combine marriage and motherhood do as well or better than single women in terms of research productivity. But for women in general, the gaps remain: They are slower to rise in the academic hierarchy; they are more often appointed as research associates than as regular faculty; they collaborate less and head fewer big laboratories. Even when `all else is equal,' women scientists produce fewer papers with fewer citations than their male counterparts. Many are the reasons proposed for the career and paper gaps, most notably a `theory of limited differences' presented by Jonathan Cole and Burton Singer that appears to be the sociological equivalent of nonlinear events in theories of chaos: i.e., small differences at the outset of a career (e.g., fewer thesis mentors available for women in prestigious graduate schools where some top dogs still refuse to accept women) accumulate over the years, producing a fanning-out effect that shows up in lesser achievements and productivity as measured by published papers. Overall, a stimulating collection and much food for thought, which one hopes will generate even more current updates and action.