Few are Called, Fewer are Chosen: Elite Reproduction in U.S. Academic Accounting

Abstract Previous work on academic accounting in the U.S. has documented impressive concentrations in publications and labor market success by faculty with credentials from a relatively small number of prestigious universities. However, this work left open the pre-doctoral origins of people producing this work, and therefore could not rule out the operation of a meritocracy. Utilizing the theoretical contributions of Bourdieu, this paper argues that elite institutions constitute a unique positioning of symbolic capital that favors a particular type of candidate over equally able others. Through systematic personnel movements into doctoral programs, elites within the discipline are able to reproduce. A study of faculty cultural capital acquired from previous matriculation at elite universities offers empirical support for these ideas. The results suggest that previous studies of concentration in academic accounting are set in motion because of this systematic selection process.