Discrimination on Age-Ethnicity-Gender

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this chance for thanking my research facilitator, friends & family for support they provided & their belief in me as well as guidance they provided without which I would have never been able to do this research.

DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

Cultural capital refers to the role certain cultural practices, knowledge, attitudes, and abilities play in the reproduction of social class. This concept has emerged as a powerful framework for the study of inequality and the intersection of structure and agency. Research in this area has been concerned mainly with the role of social class, while neglecting issues of race and gender. This study uses data gathered from extensive personal interviews and participant observation at Hays, a multinational corporation headquartered in the Midwest, to examine three main research questions involving cultural capital, race, gender, and class. First, I document the specific forms of cultural capital that are valued at Hays, and discuss the advantages gained by employees who possess and activate their cultural capital. In doing so, I explain why cultural capital is an appropriate theoretical framework for the study of race and gender inequality in the workplace, despite having rarely been applied in this manner. Second, I argue that cultural capital theory is appropriate for the study of racial inequality, and examine how race affects Hays employees' possession and activation of cultural capital at work. I find a significant intersection of race and class, as Hays's white-dominated culture privileges white middle-class employees and disadvantages black middle-class employees. Third, I discuss how Hays's dominant informal culture is gendered and affects the career prospects of men and women differently. In particular, I focus on how gender differences in cultural capital contribute to the maintenance of the glass ceiling that limits the upward mobility of women in the corporate sector.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In European society, resources, opportunities, and rewards continue to be allocated unevenly by race, and a substantial body of sociological research has endeavoured to explain these disparities. The current discourse on racial inequality is generally dominated by work located at the macro and micro ends of the theoretical spectrum. The former is concerned with structural, societal-level explanations for racial inequality, while the latter focuses more on discrimination and racism in individual experiences. However, researchers are beginning to pay more attention to the middle-ground explanations centered on the importance of culture in racial inequality, particularly in regard to how racial boundaries and hierarchies are constructed between whites and blacks (Anderson, 1999, 29)

Cultural capital theory has emerged as a powerful framework for inquiry into the reproduction of social inequality. This framework considers how certain forms of knowledge, behaviours, and preferences help ...