Work

Who Counts as a Notable Sociologist on Wikipedia? Gender, Race, and the “Professor Test”

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: This paper documents and estimates the extent of underrepresentation of women and people of color on the pages of Wikipedia devoted to contemporary American sociologists. In contrast to the demographic diversity of the discipline, sociologists represented on Wikipedia are largely white men. The gender and racial/ethnic gaps in likelihood of representation have exhibited little change over time. Using novel data, we estimate the “risk” of having a Wikipedia page for a sample of contemporary sociologists. We show that the observed differences (in academic rank, length of career, and notability measured with both H-index and departmental reputation) between men and women sociologists and whites and nonwhites, respectively, explain only about half of the differences in the likelihood of being represented on Wikipedia. The article also enumerates both supply- and demand-side mechanisms that may account for these continuing gaps in representation.

Source: Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

DOI: 10.1177/2378023118823946

Authors: Julia Adams, Hannah Brückner, Cambria Naslund

Institutions: Yale University, New York University Abu Dhabi, Princeton University

Language: English

Topic: Wikis in Education and Collaboration

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $700