Maria Giovanna Devetag, Professeure, Business et Management, Université Luiss Guido Carli, Rome

Résumé : The idea that one’s professional achievements in life depend on merit is profoundly grounded in Western culture. Yet, contrary to the prevailing narrative, evidence overwhelmingly shows that economic success is often determined by factors that are not under one’s control, such as the social class of origin. In the present study we focus on how one’s social class of origin impacts on the probability of being hired in Italian élite professional service firms, namely law firms. We also test the differential impact that social class advantage has in relation to male and female candidates. Following Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) work on class stratification, we build on the notion of “cultural capital” as a signal of social class which is best expressed in the realm of “taste” (i.e., arts, music, sport, literature). Importantly, recent studies have shown that cultural capital is functional to élite reproduction through hiring.
To test our hypotheses, four CVs of fictional candidates were created to reflect the four possible combinations of gender and social class. Gender was signaled via the applicant’s first name and social class was manipulated by including a combination of items (e.g., sport, music, residence address, etc.). Education attainments and technical skills were kept constant across the CVs. Résumés were randomly sent to a total of 455 law firms and law departments located in Rome and Milan, as spontaneous applications for an internship. Out of 794 applications, a total of 83 invitations for interviews (positive callbacks) were received, with an overall callback rate of 10.45%. However, the callbacks were not homogeneously distributed across the four candidates. Comparing the best and the worst performers, it is noteworthy that a male candidate from a high-social class background appears 7.78 times more likely to receive an interview invitation as compared to a female candidate from a low social class background. In general, a high-class background triples the chances to receive a positive call-back, and being a male almost doubles the chances. These patterns were statistically confirmed by the results of a linear mixed-effect model that showed that the main effect of gender and social class was significant, along with the social class by gender interaction. The findings of the current study contribute to a robust literature on discrimination in hiring procedures by highlighting the persistent role that social class signals play in accessing the most lucrative and prestigious segments of the labor market. Our findings also contribute to recent studies on intergenerational mobility showing that individuals from affluent families seem to benefit from “residual” advantages even when controlling for skills and education level.