Center for the Study of Democracy

We look at the structure of job placements in Ph.D. granting departments in political science: (1) in terms of conformity to the assumptions of what the social network theorist Scott Feld has called a vertical organization of ties (Feld, Bisciglia and Ynalvez, 2003); (2) in terms of patterns of direct and indirect (majority) influence of (sets of) departments on other departments, and (3) in terms of the regional geography of placements. We show how the structure of placements involves a small core set of departments which are able either directly and at first or second remove to “majority dominate” the discipline. We also consider the links between placements and department prestige. In particular, we demonstrate how the structure of placements forces downward mobility for most Ph.D.s.