Stratification and cumulative advantages in academia: gender and national differences

Science is a hierarchical social system and since the 1960s the stratification of this system has been formally addressed in terms of rewards, funding, and recognition. Recent research suggests that the stratification has intensified, and we must ask ourselves the question whether this is a productive development for academia. This chapter offers an overview of the history of studies on stratification and the associated cumulative advantages, e.g., the famous Matthew-effect, followed by an account of contemporary research, divided into personal status, funding, publishing, awards, and gender-specific stratification. Cumulative advantages due to gender, the Matilda-effect, are critical hurdles in achieving fair access to all genders. Thus, the chapter concludes by including updated and supplementary, empirical work based on a previously published study of the national and global distributions of authors in the top 1 per cent most cited elite and discusses field and national differences, as well as gender diversity in these distributions.