Misconceiving Merit: Paradoxes of Excellence and Devotion in Academic Science and Engineering

by Mary Blair-Loy, Erin A. Cech

An incisive study showing how cultural ideas of merit in academic science produce unfair and unequal outcomes.

In Misconceiving Merit , sociologists Mary Blair-Loy and Erin A. Cech uncover the cultural foundations of a paradox. On one hand, academic science, engineering, and math revere meritocracy, a system that recognizes and rewards those with the greatest talent and dedication. At the same time, women and some racial and sexual minorities remain underrepresented and often feel unwelcome and devalued in STEM. How can academic science, which so highly values meritocracy and objectivity, produce these unequal outcomes?

Blair-Loy and Cech studied more than five hundred STEM professors at a top research university to reveal how unequal and unfair outcomes can emerge alongside commitments to objectivity and excellence. The authors find that academic STEM harbors dominant cultural beliefs that not only perpetuate the mistreatment of scientists from underrepresented groups but hinder innovation. Underrepresented groups are often seen as less fully embodying merit compared to equally productive white and Asian heterosexual men, and the negative consequences of this misjudgment persist regardless of professors’ actual academic productivity. Misconceiving Merit is filled with insights for higher education administrators working toward greater equity as well as for scientists and engineers striving to change entrenched patterns of inequality in STEM.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Science

258 pages, Paperback

Published June 16, 2022

Reviews

[Oliver Bogler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and important book that presents original research and careful interpretation of the culture of STEM in the USA. The authors discuss two schemas - work devotion and scientific excellence - and explain how these are interconnected and influential on the work culture in academia. Furthermore they show how both are cultural constructs and so dispel the misconception that somehow STEM pursuits are not influenced by the culture of the people in them. Ending with some cogent enumeration of how the current situation harms scientists and science and what could be done about it this book is set to broaden your perception of STEM.

[Kit Longden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes a look at and analyzes the cultural beliefs of STEM fields that support the use objective measures of excellence, using a large amount of data from a leading US research university. With this understanding the authors dissect the ways that objective measures of excellence don't result in objective excellence in science.

Really clearly written, full of useful insight - thoroughly recommended.

[Maya Beesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is soooo fascinating to me. It is a study which detailed how scientists in STEM perceive merit within their fields and departments and how terribly inaccurate and harmful their assumptions about merit within science are. It’s pretty dense but provides a lot of great (and sometimes shocking) quotes from scientists at an undisclosed academic institution about what they think makes a valuable scientist and meaningful impact on the department. One of the best takeaways I got from this book is the stigma that women mothers that are science faculty members publish less often and are less devoted to their work could not be farther from the truth. In fact, women who are mothers are often just as if not more devoted to their professions than women without children or men, and they publish just as much if not more than the opposing demographic. Also this study included a much needed discussion and dissection about the lack of diversity of racial and ethnic background and sexual orientation and sexuality within STEM.