The Institutional Context

Abstract

In this chapter we look at how both department characteristics, as well as family and home responsibilities, influence rates of scholarly productivity. We find largely similar dynamics for political scientists and sociologists: being in a more prestigious department does not track neatly with rates of productivity, while academic rank and department type (PhD- vs. MA-/BA-granting) do much to explain the variation we see in estimates of time spent on research and in reported submissions (both in terms of quantity and in terms of where people submit—i.e., top-journals vs. other outlets). With respect to family and home responsibilities, we find a nuanced story: many respondents report spending some portion of their typical workdays on such obligations, though we see little evidence—both for male and female respondents—that commitments like having children, doing housework, and performing other caregiving activities affect rates of teaching and research appreciably.