Rob's anecdote about the precarious Yale lecturer who won't take a lower-status job at a Midwestern University is surprisingly widespread but rarely shared publ

Rob's anecdote about the precarious Yale lecturer who won't take a lower-status job at a Midwestern University is surprisingly widespread but rarely shared publicly, because if the people working high-prestige low-pay jobs revealed their wages or lack of, they would lose in prestige. Indeed, entire industries that are high-visibility can get away with paying in prestige rather than money at the entry level. Think low- to no-pay internships. In addition to academia, this includes the top journalism outlets (well-known websites, magazines, etc); fashion houses; and political campaigns. The second order effect of these industries and organizations paying in prestige is to limit the pool of people in such entry level jobs to those who can afford it. Yes, you see some working-class people there, but you see many children of the elite. And that is how a certain class reproduces its dominance across highly visible cultural and political industries. At the extreme, there is an element of potlatch in accepting no-pay jobs. Sam Altman's amazing interaction with Senator Kennedy during the AI hearings is a good example of that. Sam can afford to take no pay, and that makes him immune to a certain kind of criticism, augmenting his prestige and influence.