The hidden barriers, or ‘glass ceilings’, preventing women and minority ethnic groups from getting to the top are well documented. Yet questions of social class — and specifically class origin — have been curiously absent from these debates. In this book, Friedman and Laurison argue that there is also a powerful ‘class ceiling’ at play in elite occupations.
Drawing on analysis of the UK, U.S, France, Australia and Norway, they demonstrate that even when those from working-class backgrounds make it into the most prestigious jobs they still earn, on average, 10-15% less than colleagues from privileged backgrounds.
Drawing on 200 interviews across four case studies — television, accountancy, architecture, and acting – they explore the complex barriers facing the upwardly mobile. This is a rich, ambitious book that demands we take seriously not just the glass but also the class ceiling.
About the Authors
Sam Friedman is Associate Professor in Sociology, London School of Economics. He has published widely on social class, social mobility and elites. He is the author of Comedy and Distinction: The Cultural Currency of a ‘Good’ Sense of Humour (Routledge 2014) and the co-author of Social Class in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2015).
Daniel Laurison is Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College, USA. Previously he was at the London School of Economics & Political Science.
Industry Reviews
"The Class Ceiling blows apart the myth of our supposed meritocracy." The National (Scotland) Recommended for all levels from upper-division undergraduates to faculty by CHOICE Connect.
"An excellent, mixed-methods, Bourdieu-driven study of how privilege creates a "following wind" that helps push people to the top of elite professions... An important innovation of this study is that the authors use ethnographic interviews and observations in four work settings to see how privilege helps not only with "getting in" but also the even more consequential steps of "getting on," of rising to the elite levels." "Marshals a wide range of data, analysis and experience in an accessible and readable manner... makes the continued existence of class bias in occupational and public life more difficult for cheerleaders of meritocracy to deny, and - crucially - offers ways to end it." New Humanist "One of the most insightful works on the dynamics of inequality since Pickett and Wilkinson's The Spirit Level a decade ago" Herald Scotland "Reading The Class Ceiling hit home in so many places I felt bruised by the end. " The Guardian "A well-conceived and important study which makes a significant contribution to knowledge about social mobility, and an important intervention into broader political debates"
Selina Todd, University of Oxford "This compelling book offers a fresh approach to understanding how social class matters. Easy to read, Highly recommended!" Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania "Without question this is the most outstanding study of social mobility in the UK to have appeared in the past 20 years. Using a brilliant mixed method design, Friedman & Laurison trace the long shadow of class privilege in driving career prospects even in the supposedly dynamic sectors of today's knowledge economy. Anyone who thinks Britain is a meritocracy needs to ponder the lessons of this wonderful book." Mike Savage, LSE "This stunning book provides a panoramic overview of class inequality in the UK labour market with a forensic scrutiny of the ways in which privilege works to keep the class ceiling firmly in place." Diane Reay, University of Cambridge "Friedman and Laurison show how it can possibly be that upwardly mobile executives and professionals earn less than those raised in the upper classes. Everybody in The Class Ceiling has a desirable job, but even in the upper reaches of British society, class roots matter." Mike Hout, New York University
