Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the research questions addressed in this book and summarizes the core arguments. It explains that the book is about inequalities, culture and social class in the City of London; specifically who has occupied the City’s ‘top jobs’ over the past 50 years, how they got them, what makes these processes unfair, and why diversity does not drive progressive change. It introduces a key tension, namely that while the City has constructed a meritocratic narrative, its ‘top jobs’ remain dominated by children of the affluent middle and upper-middle class, who have privileged access to its exceptional rewards. The chapter explains that the City has carried out an impressive sleight of hand, as this meritocratic reputation suggests that access is inclusive of anybody on the basis of ability and effort and co-exists with exclusive recruitment practices that generate status by suggesting these skills are also rather scarce. In recent decades, unfair outcomes have been exposed, but attempts to diversify these ‘top jobs’ have had a cosmetic effect. The book concludes that their primary function has been to help legitimate the much wider inequalities of income and wealth the City helps to create.