ExCL: Highly Discriminating: Why the City isn't Fair and Diversity Doesn't Work

Dr Louise Ashley is a senior lecturer in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), and a fellow of its Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS). She studies diversity and inclusion in 'elite' organisations and occupations focusing particularly on social mobility and class. She has published articles in leading academic journals and her research has been widely covered in media, both in the UK and internationally. She has led teams appointed by the government's Social Mobility Commission (SMC) to understand barriers to entry based on socio-economic background, in law, accountancy and investment banking, and is a Research Fellow for the Bridge Group, a leading consultancy offering research and thought leadership on social equality. She is a working group member for the City of London Corporation's Taskforce on Socioeconomic Diversity. She will discuss key themes from her recently published book, Highly Discriminating: Why the City isn't Fair and Diversity Doesn't Work, recently described in The Spectator as 'leading a herd of sacred cows to the slaughter.' The book shows how despite a narrative of merit, the City actively reproduces classed and other inequalities from which its elites benefit. Efforts at diversity and inclusion represent a form of reputation laundering, offering an illusion of change which protects the privileges of existing financial and professional elites and distracts from the much wider inequalities their firms help create. Young people from working-class backgrounds encouraged to join these firms as part of what has been called a social mobility industry in the UK are made pawns in this legitimacy game: many experience quite painful psychological effects. The book concludes real progress will only be achieved when these contradictions are acknowledged and structural inequalities are addressed, which urgently requires a more radical response, from both organizations and the State.

Please join us in person if you can, Xfi Conference Room 1 has a capacity of 24 people. This is a hybrid event in case you cannot be on campus, please email T.M.Welch@exeter.ac.uk if you would like the link. The talk will be followed by informal mingling with tea/coffee from 14:45-16:00.