{"id":3529,"date":"2025-07-08T15:56:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:56:34","slug":"social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Social-Class Bias Undermines Meritocracy in Promotions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

The role of social class in the workplace is not as discussed as it should be, as it plays a big role in who earns promotions and raises\u2014and who decision-makers include and listen to in meetings. The consequence is that many deserving professionals from lower social classes get unfairly passed over, while those who do get their due in moving up the ladder often outshine their more privileged peers.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Sean Martin<\/a> of the University of Virginia explained that social-class backgrounds shape us almost like different cultures. A person who has been upwardly mobile through different social-class positions and professional ranks is akin to being multicultural.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have been upwardly mobile have been shaped in very different ways than people who might have always been in fairly privileged positions, in ways that make them have to learn new cultural norms and reach across cultural divides, as they’ve had to do as they move into new and higher social-class settings,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThey come equipped with a skill set, including communication skills, and experiences that are very useful.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own research finds that people who come from lower social-class backgrounds who\u2019ve been upwardly mobile are actually quite likely to speak up and offer a fresh perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cThe real challenge is that bosses often don’t ask them for their input as often as they would ask it from people who come from more privileged backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who come from a more elite background typically have many indicators of being from an upper social class, for example, having gone to prestigious schools, saying urbane things that are very culturally savvy in a particular accent that makes them sound smart, and an expensive mode of dressing that is taken for granted in that echelon. And all of those qualities make an impression on supervisors.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpper-class people may have that \u2018it\u2019 factor\u2014they went to name-brand schools, have name-brand clothes, and say these things that sounds so smart, so bosses say, \u2018I’m going to go to them for their input,\u2019 as opposed to a person who might speak more plainly, making the same point but in a very different way, or might have gone to an extremely good school, but maybe not a brand that jumps off the page at you,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been really interesting studies that showed there\u2019s actually a class ceiling and a class pay gap, just like there’s a gender ceiling and a gender pay gap, such that people working the same position who are from a lower social-class background essentially get paid less than a person who\u2019s doing the same job but comes from an upper-class background, so coming from a lower-class background is inhibiting in those ways as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my research tries to flip the script and say, \u2018Let\u2019s focus on all those multicultural abilities and all the ways that people have been shaped on that upwardly mobile journey that are incredibly useful and valuable, especially pertaining to leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher The role of social class in the workplace is not as discussed as it should be, as it plays a big role in who earns promotions and raises\u2014and who decision-makers include and listen to in meetings. The consequence is that many deserving professionals from lower social classes get unfairly passed over, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,74,77,76],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-hr","category-pay","category-performance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSocial-Class Bias Undermines Meritocracy in Promotions - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Social-Class Bias Undermines Meritocracy in Promotions\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:56:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/rich-man-hurts-poor-people.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"ETHICS\",\"HR\",\"PAY\",\"PERFORMANCE\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/social-class-bias-undermines-meritocracy-in-promotions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social-Class Bias Undermines Meritocracy in Promotions - 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