ABSTRACT
The academic man occupies a status within the social system of his university and profession, but as a human being he also has a broader socio-economic status, or position in the larger society. Inadequate income and low economic status, regardless of the class origins of persons within the academic profession, may engender a general dissatisfaction, cynicism, and revolt against the status quo. In common with the clergy and certain other vocations, the academic profession stands somewhat apart in not having its general prestige established primarily in terms of monetary remuneration. Remuneration entails a complex set of social conditions that the 'technologically minded' seldom think of. Various critics of the American professor have made the observation that democratic demands for mass education in all sorts of practical subjects have resulted in many faculty members of mediocre mentality and general cultural attainments. The stereotype always pre-judges the policeman as a flatfoot, and the professor as an absent-minded individual.
