Seeking Faculty Jobs: Exploring the Relationship Between Academic's Social Class of Origin and Hiring Networks in Chilean Universities

Abstract

This research consisted of a qualitative case study on how a group of early-career doctorate holders in engineering (N=10) found academic positions in the Chilean academia. The analysis particularly explored how their social class of origin and their academic networks influenced their opportunities of getting an academic job. Findings show that social class of origin mediates the academic network configuration of academic-job seekers through unequal opportunities of completing their undergraduate degrees in prestigious Chilean universities with high research capacity, and subsequently, the unequal opportunities of studying a doctorate degree at top-ranked foreign universities. Only upper social class candidates who received their doctorate degrees from foreign highly prestigious universities were capable of securing positions at the top research-intensive Chilean universities. Overall, findings show that academic networks with professors who are knowledgeable of hiring processes are crucial at the moment of seeking academic jobs in the Chilean higher education system.