19 December 2019

Lecture on “The Class Ceiling” by Prof. dr. Sam Friedman (LSE)

Brussels, VUB
Politicians continually tell us that anyone can get ahead. But is that really true? This lecture takes readers behind the closed doors of elite employers to reveal how class affects who gets to the top.

In their new book ‘The Class Ceiling’, Friedman and Laurison show that a powerful ‘class pay gap’ exists in Britain’s elite occupations. Even when those from working-class backgrounds make it into prestigious jobs, they earn, on average, 16% less than colleagues from privileged backgrounds. But why is this the case? Drawing on 175 interviews across four case studies – television, accountancy, architecture, and acting – they explore the complex barriers facing the upwardly mobile.