The process of becoming a scientis

Who are scientists? How do social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds affect a person's choice to be a scientist? This dissertation is the first attempt to use large survey data to answer these questions. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part considers family background factors that distinguish scientists from non-scientists. The primary data source for this analysis is combined samples of 1962 and 1972 postcensal surveys on scientists and the 1962 and 1973 Occupational Changes in a Generation Surveys. The second part studies the determinants of the plan to become a scientist among high school seniors. In addition, it examines who receives higher education in science. Data used in the second part are from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972.;It is found that the most important step in the process of becoming a scientist is higher education. Alter education is controlled, most family background factors do not affect a person's likelihood of becoming a scientist. An exception to this is the persistence of the inheritance effect of father's being a scientist. Changes in the social origins of scientists observed during the 1962-1972 period are small. In general, high school students of racial and religious minority groups are more likely to plan to become scientists than are whites and Protestants, controlling for family resources and academic performance. Birth order is found to be irrelevant. Family background affects enrollment in postsecondary education and to a lesser degree the choice of majoring in science. However, most graduates with bachelor's degrees in science pursue non-scientific careers.;This dissertation challenges the traditional approach in social stratification research of treating occupation as a continuous variable in terms of SEI scores. Instead, scientific occupations are treated as a distinct set of social positions. Because of its ostensible emphasis on universalistic criteria, science is shown to be a good channel of mobility for people from low status origins if they can overcome the barrier to higher education. Thus, the dissertation is able to test Robert Merton's universalism hypothesis by comparing the social origins of scientists to those of non-scientists.