Great analysis, Alex. Something I think would be interesting to drill down on is whether there has been a change in over- or under-representation over time. I'm sure it would be difficult to find the datasets to answer this, but I'd be very interested in the result.
A bit of a side note, but just thinking through the scriptures, I'm not sure prophets have ever been a representative sample: Moses — raised by Pharaoh; Sons of Mosiah — princes; Alma Sr. — priest and counselor to the king; generational prophets — all throughout the scriptures; Moroni — chief general. This is obviously anecdotal evidence, and there are of course outliers (Joseph Smith, Christ’s Twelve Apostles).
I also think dividing up business and professional could be useful. I would like to see business and law split. An MBA or even PHD in Business seems a very different preparation from law school.
In my post that came out today, I show a breakout of degrees which would give more insight into this question. For example, 1 in 7 have a law degree vs 2 in 5 have an MBA.
First, thank you Alex for doing this research. It raises a question I have (and Kathleen alluded to). Are these callings inspired? I offer two hypotheses. 1) These callings are inspired (no bias, just direct communication from God). This indicates that God favors, at least for General Authorities, those in highly educated, highly well paid professions. If you are a blue collar worker, military or law enforcement, a non-MD medical professional, work in a trade or craft (e.g. plumbing, electrician, construction), you are not likely to be selected for a church leadership position. That is God's will. This would be a modern phenomena because the scriptures show that men of all classes held esteemed church leadership positions throughout history. 2) These callings are based on the bias of those issuing the calling. In which case, this profile fits Bourdieu's Theory of Capitals which argues that people are selected into specific sub-groups (e.g. church leadership positions) based on their social and cultural capital (who you know, education, socioeconomic level, specific work experience). To me the data suggests hypothesis 2 is more true than hypothesis 1. If one is inclined to believe hypothesis 1 is more true, then I'd love to understand the reasons why.
I've always wondered about this. Is this just how the cards fell, and there's some mix of right place, right time that caused this, or is this something where if God were preparing them throughout their lives to take on this kind of role, that they'd need to have the personality types that do really well in business and the motivation to get advanced degrees? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Lawyers make up 0.5% of all occupations. One in 200. For LDS General authorities it’s 1 in 6.7. Lawyers are 28.9 times more common as LDS General Authorities than the general population.
Great analysis, Alex. Something I think would be interesting to drill down on is whether there has been a change in over- or under-representation over time. I'm sure it would be difficult to find the datasets to answer this, but I'd be very interested in the result.
A bit of a side note, but just thinking through the scriptures, I'm not sure prophets have ever been a representative sample: Moses — raised by Pharaoh; Sons of Mosiah — princes; Alma Sr. — priest and counselor to the king; generational prophets — all throughout the scriptures; Moroni — chief general. This is obviously anecdotal evidence, and there are of course outliers (Joseph Smith, Christ’s Twelve Apostles).
I also think dividing up business and professional could be useful. I would like to see business and law split. An MBA or even PHD in Business seems a very different preparation from law school.
In my post that came out today, I show a breakout of degrees which would give more insight into this question. For example, 1 in 7 have a law degree vs 2 in 5 have an MBA.
https://mormonmetrics.substack.com/p/general-authority-gender-race-more
First, thank you Alex for doing this research. It raises a question I have (and Kathleen alluded to). Are these callings inspired? I offer two hypotheses. 1) These callings are inspired (no bias, just direct communication from God). This indicates that God favors, at least for General Authorities, those in highly educated, highly well paid professions. If you are a blue collar worker, military or law enforcement, a non-MD medical professional, work in a trade or craft (e.g. plumbing, electrician, construction), you are not likely to be selected for a church leadership position. That is God's will. This would be a modern phenomena because the scriptures show that men of all classes held esteemed church leadership positions throughout history. 2) These callings are based on the bias of those issuing the calling. In which case, this profile fits Bourdieu's Theory of Capitals which argues that people are selected into specific sub-groups (e.g. church leadership positions) based on their social and cultural capital (who you know, education, socioeconomic level, specific work experience). To me the data suggests hypothesis 2 is more true than hypothesis 1. If one is inclined to believe hypothesis 1 is more true, then I'd love to understand the reasons why.
I've always wondered about this. Is this just how the cards fell, and there's some mix of right place, right time that caused this, or is this something where if God were preparing them throughout their lives to take on this kind of role, that they'd need to have the personality types that do really well in business and the motivation to get advanced degrees? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
.
I assume the overall membership bars include adults only?
Yep 18+
Nice. Now do lawyers.
According to my dataset, 15% of the 152 Full-time General Authorities have law degrees.
Lawyers make up 0.5% of all occupations. One in 200. For LDS General authorities it’s 1 in 6.7. Lawyers are 28.9 times more common as LDS General Authorities than the general population.