Our friends at Feminist Philosophers have a depressing post about the contribution of junior men in creating an inhospitable climate to junior women in the profession. I have to admit that I often assume -- or at least hope -- that our discipline's general 'climate' issues are, in part, generational. But, of course, some younger scholars are clearly responding to signals from senior men about what's tolerated in the discipline, so the generational mores can be easily passed on to future cohorts without conterveiling efforts.
But the culture among PhD students is, in part, also sometimes beyond the grip of supervisors and faculty. In particular, one should not be blind to the fact that with uncertain job-prospects, other PhD students are also in some respects one's competition for scarce jobs. So, it might appear rational to try to reduce competition for these jobs by discouraging talented peers (even if immoral). Now, one way to discourage this is to make team-spirit among philosophers more rewarding (and to ensure that non-in-group-males are welcomed on the team).
I welcome other suggestions on how to think about this issue.
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