The Learned

Abstract

The other social segment that rose to prominence in the nineteenth century was that of learned professionals. Two status groups are examined in detail, clerics and professors. Clerics used to be highly dynastic in their marriages, and priesthood was passed down in the family. As in the nobility, social decline thoroughly changed the marriage market of learned professionals. Professors often came from clerical families. It was practically impossible for anyone from a lower-ranking family to become a professor, but the situation changed radically in the latter half of the twentieth century: onethird of professors have recently been farmers’ or workers’ sons and daughters. The range of status equivalence in the professors’ marriage market is wide, embracing all learned professionals. This also applies to professors with farmer or worker backgrounds. Female professors adhere most closely to identical status equivalence.