David Ronder Jan 9:

Intellectual inbreeding is referred to in this current article in the Harvard magazine. I now think "academic/intellectual inbreeding" would have been the best option here. Laura was right.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/1/8/lewis-reaping-wh...

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/1/8/lewis-reaping-wh...

Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales Nov 12, 2023:

I agree with Laura and the others. I think it's "academic inbreeding". See:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1330221.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00401...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11024-022-09469-6
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/11356405.2021.19...
The last one is titled: "Academic inbreeding in the Spanish public university system: a review of its institutional and context determinants (Endogamia en el sistema universitario público español: una revisión de sus determinantes institucionales y contextuales)"

Academic incest is something else. See:
https://www.johnchampaign.com/2022/06/20/academic-incest-all...

HTH

peter jackson Nov 12, 2023:

Academic incest Is another term I’ve seen used but I imagine people might also find it distasteful. Then again, we use incestuous metaphorically so …

Laeticia Maris Nov 12, 2023:

Academic inbreeding I agree with all the colleagues who came up with this solution. Distasteful as it looks/ sounds, that's exactly what is being expressed in the example sentence provided. I have mixed feelings about "cronyism", as it may not cause the exact same impact caused by the original text.

"Endogamia", in this context, means that students go to the exact same institution for further education: they start as undergraduates in an institution, then stay there for a master's/ PhD, maybe keep there as members of staff.

When I hear the expression "academic inbreeding", that's exactly what I imagine: someone sticking to the same institution for further education and employment.

Toni Castano Nov 11, 2023:

Agree with Laura "Academic inbreeding" just sounds terrible, but so does "endogamia académica" too. The simple mentioning of the word "endogamia" makes one´s hairs stand on end, true. But it is also true that this expression, academic inbreeding, is finding acceptance little by little in academic fora in the UK, as it can be seen underneath:
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/porta...

As an alternative, how about "preferencial hiring/recuitment of own university graduates", or something along these lines?

Lisa Rosengard Nov 11, 2023:

I found a word 'endogenous'. It describes something which originates from within. It seems to be about negativity among students with low motivation levels. They believe that they have less opportunity than some others in the field of work or study.

Laura Mico Nov 11, 2023:

I understand. It is kind of distasteful, and it certainly has some negative connotations, but so does "endogamia"...
If I read that 'graduates walk straight into jobs at their own university', I think 'how cool is that'? :P
On the other hand, I didn't know its meaning before, so Phil has a point.

philgoddard Nov 11, 2023:

I wouldn't use 'endogamy' or 'academic inbreeding' because people won't understand them.

How about 'graduates walking straight into jobs at their own university'?

Taña Dalglish Nov 11, 2023:

@ Neil I understand your reluctance to use "academic/intellectual inbreeding" or endogamy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_inbreeding Wiki explains its meaning and perhaps by way of explanation, an idea would be to use "a lack of diversification", given that the meaning is for e.g. "a university hiring its own graduates to be professors. It is generally viewed as insular and unhealthy for academia." Just an idea!

neilmac (asker) Nov 11, 2023:

@Laura I'm not keen on the use of inbreeding/endogamy as I find them distasteful. I'm looking for a euphemism. (However, if I can't find another option, then I suppose I will have to use one of them, but they wouldn't be my first choice).

Laura Mico Nov 11, 2023:

Academic inbreeding - Why don't you like it? It seems it is a common term in English, too:
"Commonly referred to as "endogamy" or "academic inbreeding", this has become part of some countries' academic culture."

Also:
"Academic inbreeding"—involving the appointment of faculty members who graduated from the institution employing them—is considered a small and peripheral aspect of the academic profession but is quite widespread globally.

If you do a Google search in USA, it has 13,600 hits, much more than the 800 hits for "academic endogamy".

It seems to me it's a pretty established term.

neilmac (asker) Nov 11, 2023:

FWIW I found an article about "Intellectual endogamy" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/48561661), but the author is Spanish and I'd rather find a better way to express the notion than simply "endogamy"...