TY - JOUR

T1 - London’s Legal Elite

T2 - recruitment through cultural capital and the reproduction of social exclusivity in City professional service fields

AU - Cook, Andy

AU - Faulconbridge, James

AU - Muzio, Daniel

N1 - Cook, Faulconbridge, Muzio, 2012. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and PLanning A, 44 (7), 1744-1762, 2012 10.1068/a43605

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - This paper examines the ways in which recruitment and selection processes facilitate the reproduction of elites and elite cultures within City law firms. The research is based upon original research carried out during 2009 consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews, semiotic and content analyses of recruitment materials and websites, and the analysis of publicly available data demonstrating the educational backgrounds of lawyers practising in the City. By deploying Bourdieusian concepts including the field, doxa, cultural capital and habitus the paper shows that in the firms studied homologous elite cultures and social groups are maintained and legitimated as part of attempts to reproduce ‘normalised’ expectations about the identity and practice of a City professional. Maintenance is ensured by assessing the objectified, institutionalised and embodied cultural capital of applicants in recruitment and selection processes, with only those possessing certain types of capital being recruited. This selection by cultural capital limits social mobility in City professions which are dominated by the upper-middle classes and helps explain why, in the face of critique and in the context of programs designed to widen social diversity, the City legal profession remains socially exclusive.

AB - This paper examines the ways in which recruitment and selection processes facilitate the reproduction of elites and elite cultures within City law firms. The research is based upon original research carried out during 2009 consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews, semiotic and content analyses of recruitment materials and websites, and the analysis of publicly available data demonstrating the educational backgrounds of lawyers practising in the City. By deploying Bourdieusian concepts including the field, doxa, cultural capital and habitus the paper shows that in the firms studied homologous elite cultures and social groups are maintained and legitimated as part of attempts to reproduce ‘normalised’ expectations about the identity and practice of a City professional. Maintenance is ensured by assessing the objectified, institutionalised and embodied cultural capital of applicants in recruitment and selection processes, with only those possessing certain types of capital being recruited. This selection by cultural capital limits social mobility in City professions which are dominated by the upper-middle classes and helps explain why, in the face of critique and in the context of programs designed to widen social diversity, the City legal profession remains socially exclusive.

KW - cultural capital

KW - professional service firms

KW - law

KW - City of London

KW - elites

KW - recruitment and selection processes

U2 - 10.1068/a43605

DO - 10.1068/a43605

M3 - Journal article

VL - 44

SP - 1744

EP - 1762

JO - Environment and Planning A

JF - Environment and Planning A

SN - 1472-3409

IS - 7

ER -