COMMENTS: E. F. BORGATTA.

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Paul Kay in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which addressed the growing number of unemployed and underemployed doctor of philosophy degree holders in the U.S. According to the commenter, it is not clear whether Kay's comments should be responded to in terms of his presentation of a paradigmatic example of the growth of an ideology in Marx's sense or in terms of what he apparently sees as a trend that he thinks is an irrational belief and something that should not be. The commenter admits that he is not convinced that the switch to applied training is that massive in academia and he is not at all sure that Kay accurately represents the changes that have taken place. Rather, the shift that has gone on and is going on is from a concern with pure research whatever that is, to what is sometimes called applied research and more often is dignified by a euphemism like policy oriented research. Response to Kay's position boils down to a question or two. These questions include the following: If nonacademic employment for doctor of philosophy degree holders was not available, should people infer that somehow some other training could be given that would lead to employment.