scholarly journals Social Class in Organizations: Entrance, Promotion, and Organizational and Societal Consequences of the Corporate Elite

2021 ◽  
pp. 105649262110276
Author(s):  
Michelle K. Lee ◽  
Jennifer J. Kish-Gephart ◽  
Mark S. Mizruchi ◽  
Donald A. Palmer ◽  
Michael Useem
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Strategic Actions ◽  
Class System ◽  
Corporate Elite ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
Societal Inequality

Organizational theorists studying executives of large corporations have long theorized that top management is dominated by elites of upper social class background. Organizations reflect the class system in the societies they are situated in by advantaging those of higher social class background. If organizations are perpetuating societal inequality by favoring those from higher social class and positioning them to dictate organizational outcomes, it is important to understand ways to reduce inequality by increasing social class diversity, and theorize on the implications of this diversity for business and society. This article brings together scholars on the forefront of social class research to understand the influence of social class on the corporate elite. The scholars explore the effect of social class in attaining access to the most influential managerial positions, conditions that enable greater diversity, and how the corporate elite can affect firm strategic actions and key societal outcomes.

Social Class and the Family Compact: the Class System in the Cataraqui Townships, Ernestown, and Kingston from 1791-1820

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Holdsworth
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Class Consciousness ◽  
Upper Canada ◽  
Class System ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Family ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Upper Canadian ◽  
Post War

Scholars have often assumed that the Upper Canadian social class system was shaped by a hierarchical and landed patronage system known as the Family Compact. Based on the views of Bishop John Strachan and Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, this Family Compact is viewed as a post-War of 1812 development and is said to replace the oligarchy that was in place in 1791. An examination of the Loyalist settlement townships, in particular Ernestown Township and the Cataraqui Townships, suggests instead that a mercantile aristocracy of patronage and wealth existed by 1791, including Richard Cartwright Jr. of Kingston, along with rural leaders such as the Fairfields and Parrotts of Ernestown. This study of a key and complex time and place challenges prevailing views on class and class consciousness in Upper Canada and refines our understanding of this society. Such an investigation is timely given both the seeming unwillingness of historians to fully challenge existing depictions of the Upper Canadian class system, despite their noticeable flaws, and the impending commemorations of the War of 1812. Using archival documents ( accounts and letters) relating to two Loyalist/merchant families (the Parrotts and the Fairfields) along with a re-interpretation of secondary sources, a new view of a “Merchant Compact” is explored. This approach encompasses the changing relations of the settlements in question (Ernestown/Bath and Kingston) and shows the importance of previously neglected figures such as James Parrott. More broadly, it contributes new layers of analysis to the discussion of class consciousness in Upper Canada.

Social Class and the Young Offender

1967 ◽  
Vol 113 (503) ◽  
pp. 1073-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Palmai ◽  
P. B. Storey ◽  
O. Briscoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Young Offender ◽  
Juvenile Courts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class Background

This study is an investigation of the social class background of a randomly selected sample of young people appearing in the London Juvenile Courts; and of the relationships between their social class and sex and the number and types of offences with which they were charged.

The Relationship between Parental Social Class and Endorsement of Items on the Protestant Ethic and Conservatism Scales

1985 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Virginia Gonsalves ◽  
Godwin Anthony Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Protestant Ethic ◽  
Class Background ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ethic Scale

The influence of family background, especially parental social class on offsprings' value orientations has led to much debate. The correlations between parental social class and endorsement of the Mirels and Garrett Protestant Ethic Scale and Wilson and Patterson's Conservatism Scale for a sample of 108 undergraduates were significant between lower-class background and endorsement on both scales.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM INNOVATION ORIENTATION AND FIRM GROWTH: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF FIRM INNOVATIVENESS

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550005 ◽  
Author(s):  
NILS D. KRAICZY ◽  
ANDREAS HACK ◽  
FRANZ W. KELLERMANNS
Keyword(s):  
Firm Growth ◽  
Top Management Team ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Upper Echelon ◽  
Team Innovation ◽  
Firm Innovativeness ◽  
Team Characteristics ◽  
The Relationship

Upper echelon theory and research on innovation have considered top management teams and their behaviour and characteristics as important factors that positively influence innovativeness and organizational outcomes. Yet, innovation research has mostly focused on individual new product projects, and their performance and impact on firm performance. Recent research has started to apply a more holistic view in terms of innovation, by considering firm-wide innovation instead of single new products. Upper echelon research has concentrated on direct relationships between top management team characteristics and organizational outcomes. But recent research calls for mediating effects of the relationship between top management team characteristics and organizational outcomes. Hence, this study introduces firm innovativeness as a mediator between top management team innovation orientation and firm growth. Focusing on small and medium-sized firms, which often represent highly innovative firms, results show that firm innovativeness fully mediates the relationship between top management team innovation orientation and firm growth. Implications and future research are discussed.

Perceived Party Choice and Class Voting

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald D. Lambert ◽  
James E. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
National Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Conceptual Domain ◽  
Party Choice ◽  
National Election Study ◽  
Class Voting ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Canadian Politics ◽  
Party Differences

AbstractThis article presents tests of effects of social class background on voters' perceptions of most and least favoured federal parties, perceived party differences and subjective class voting. The data were taken from the 1984 Canadian National Election Study. The results show that subjective class voting extended to voters' beliefs about least liked parties. And the greater the perceived differences between voters' preferred parties and their second and third choice parties, the greater the level of class voting. An index which combined respondents' perceptions of the class orientations of most and least liked parties increased the estimate of the level of subjective class voting that takes place. The results suggest that this index provides an improved way of assessing subjective class voting. This index is a useful improvement upon previous measures because it incorporates information on the extent to which voters see Canadian politics as presenting class-based alternatives. This is the conceptual domain of the dependent variable in the literature on subjective class voting, but perceived class-based alternatives are seldom measured directly.

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