Star Sociologists

Philipp Korom is a postdoc at the University of Graz, Austria. Korom was recently awarded the prestigious Gustav Figdor Award by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for his research on academic elites.

• 1 Introduction.- References.- 2 Eminent Scientists.- Emergence of Research Universities.- Enter the Professional Scientist.- Prominent Scientists.- In Search of a Geiger Counter to Detect Eminence.- Citation-Based Eminence Research.- References.- 3 Sociology as an Academic Discipline.- The Emergence of Sociology as a Discipline on its Own.- From Quasi-Hegemony to Pluralism.- Rise and Fall of Hegemonic Schools in U.S. Sociology.- Pluralism of National Sociologies.- Contrasting Sociology with Economics.- SSDs with and without a Core.- High- versus Low-Consensus SSDs.- Hierarchical versus Non-Hierarchical SSDs.- Self-Contained versus Open SSDs.- Journal versus Book-Based SSDs.- References.- 4 Identifying the Elite.- At the Peak of the Eminence Hierarchy.- Two Methodological Pathways for Identifying Elites.- Citations in Sociology—The Worst Proxy for Scholarly Recognition, Except for All the Others.- Study I: Eminence in the Monographic and Journal Literature.- Study II: Eminence in the Pluralistic World of Academic Journals.- Validating the Methodology.- Do Citations Correlate with Prizes and Memberships in Academies?.- Are Textbook Citations Special?.- Do Journals Mirror National and Specialist Sociologies?.- References.- 5 Collective Biographies and Career Pathways.- From (Auto-)Biography to Prosopography.- Elites in Transition.- Elite Careers in Economics and Sociology—A Comparison.- References.- 6 The Rise to and the Fall from Eminence.- Explaining (Fading) Eminence.- Master–Apprentice Relationships.- Elite Higher Education.- Academic Tribes.- Lipset and the Early Years of Political Sociology.- Lipset: Remembered in Political Science, Neglected in Sociology.- Why Has Lipset’s Eminence Faded in Sociology?.- Pierre Bourdieu and U.S. Sociology: A Diffusion Study.- Channels of Diffusion.- Diffusing Publications and Concepts.- Social Structures Impacting Diffusion Processes.- CarrierGroups.- Eminence in Sociology—A Nested Phenomenon Extending Across Many Specialties.- References.- 7 Elites as Gatekeepers.- The Case of Journal Reviewers.- The Case of RKM—An Eminent Scholar Crisscrossing Social Circles.- RKM as Gate-Opener—Analysis of 1460 Recommendation Letters.- Elite Power in Sociology?.- References.- 8 Making Sense of Prestige Elites.- The Discipline-Elite Nexus.- Toward a Sociology of Academic Elites.- References.