> The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, is the tendency of i...
>Merton spent a lot of time studying "how the social system of scie...
Robert King Merton (July, 1910 – February, 2003) was an American so...
Important point: "Glaser has found, for example, that some degree o...
Here is the current list of members in the French Academy: https://...
"Access to scientific information" as a reward is a surprising stat...
>> What holds for the French Academy holds in varying degree for ev...
>> But in greater part, the phenomenon of the 41st chair is an arti...
This is definitely still the case in science...
> The world is pec...
And here we get to the crux of the paper.
> This complex pattern o...
This is still very much true. "Centers of demonstrated scientific e...
Science 159 (1968): 56 – 63.
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What could be the new "material rewards"? Access to new equipment or participation in scientific conferences?
Robert King Merton (July, 1910 – February, 2003) was an American sociologist considered to be a founding father of modern sociology.
For more on his background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton
And here we get to the crux of the paper.
> This complex pattern of the misallocation of credit for scientific work must quite evidently be described by "the Matthew effect," for, as will be remembered, the Gospel According to St. Matthew puts it this way: For unto every one that hath shall be give, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath..
>> What holds for the French Academy holds in varying degree for every other institution designed to identify and reward talent. In all of them there are occupants of the 41st chair, men outside the Academy having at least the same order of talent as those inside it. In part, this circumstance results from errors of judgment that lead to inclusion of the last talented at the expense of the more talented…..
Important point: "Glaser has found, for example, that some degree of recognition is required to stabilize the careers of scientists."
> The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, is the tendency of individuals to accrue social or economic success in proportion to their initial level of popularity, friends, and wealth. It is sometimes summarized by the adage or platitude "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". The term was coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman in 1968 (the year of this paper) and it takes its name from a loose interpretation of the Parable of the Talents in the biblical Gospel of Matthew.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect
This is definitely still the case in science...
> The world is peculiar in this matter of how it gives credit. It tends to give the credit to [already] famous people.
Here is the current list of members in the French Academy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise
>> But in greater part, the phenomenon of the 41st chair is an artifact of having a fixed number of places available at the summit of recognition.
This is still very much true. "Centers of demonstrated scientific excellent are allocated far larger resources for investigation than centers which have yet to make their mark."
>Merton spent a lot of time studying "how the social system of science works in accordance with, and often also in contradiction to, the ethos of science." This focus on the social organization of science led Merton to study the reward system in science, priority disputes between scientists, and the way in which famous scientists often receive disproportionate credit for their contributions, while less-known scientists receive less credit than their contributions merit. With his study of the *Matthew effect*, Merton showed how the social system of science sometimes deviated structurally from the ethos of science, in this case by violating the norm of universalism: a few top scientists enjoying large chunks of awards, grants and jobs, and the spread and distribution of resources and recognition among scientists being highly skewed.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton
"Access to scientific information" as a reward is a surprising statement in today's age of information overload, but it makes sense in the context of the 60s. To be in the loop, one needed to be part of a network and have a good university library. Nowadays, the value of information is much less in access, and more in filtering what is relevant.