Deprivation, social class and social mobility at Big Four and non-Big Four firms

摘要

Using the work of Bourdieu and Savage, this paper investigates social class and social mobilityamong chartered accountants who qualified with The Institute of Chartered Accountantsof Scotland in 2009. We find that these accountants tend to come from privilegedbackgrounds and that those who qualified with Big Four firms possess more economic,social and cultural capital than those who qualify with other firms. Our study provides freshinsights into how elements of social class interact with social background. In contrast withthe prevailing view that there is limited social mobility in the accountancy profession, wefind some evidence of social mobility, suggesting that current debates are based oncontestable assumptions. We also find that chartered accountants from more deprivedbackgrounds as indicated by childhood postcode often have a father who has a professionalor managerial occupation, so are not deprived on all measures. Where those from moredeprived backgrounds accessed chartered accountancy careers, this was at the expense ofpeople whose parents held lower rather than higher professional or managerial jobs. Thissuggests that the most advantaged maintain access to chartered accountancy but those frommore middling professional homes are displaced when those from more deprivedbackgrounds gain access.