The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged

Sam Friedman

ISBN 10: 1447336062 / ISBN 13: 9781447336068

Published by Policy Press, 2019

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. An apparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is intact with no nicks or tears. Spine has no signs of creasing. Pages are clean and not marred by notes or folds of any kind.

Seller Inventory # rev2334044550

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged
• Publisher: Policy Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1447336062
• ISBN 13: 9781447336068
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Like New
• Weight: 550 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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

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.

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 Professor in Sociology, London School of Economics and a Commissioner at the Social Mobility Commission. 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). He tweets as @SamFriedmanSoc

Daniel Laurison is Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College, USA. Previously he was at the London School of Economics & Political Science. He is Associate Editor of the British Journal of Sociology and tweets as @Daniel_Laurison