Studying elites and social class is a particular interest of mine – my doctoral research explores issues of culture and identity within one particular elite field, namely the investment management community in Edinburgh. I was therefore very interested to see the recent BBC Two documentary presented by the corporation’s media editor, Amol Rajan. The programme’s title, How to Break into the Elite, was misleading; instead the focus was on how most young people from non-traditional backgrounds are excluded from those elite occupations.

The answers to this question would be familiar to any follower of Pierre Bourdieu. Indeed, the programme featured significant contributions from Dr Sam Friedman of the London School of Economics and Dr Louise Ashley of Royal Holloway, both of whom have used Bourdieu’s ideas to study elite groups. (Dr Friedman co-authored The Class Ceiling, published earlier this year, which similarly explored the the lack of social mobility and the class pay gap in the UK.)

Bourdieu explains how status in any given field (here, elite professional occupations) comes from the possession of the forms of capital which are valued in that field. Like money (economic capital) this capital can be accumulated and, importantly, passed down from generation to generation. Two forms of capital are important in this context: social capital (the power of social networks) and cultural capital – the latter was expressed in the programme through words like ‘polish’ and ‘ease’, both essentially euphemisms for a certain version of posh confidence.

Seen through a number of case studies, the messages became clear. Whereas Ben, a graduate of Dulwich College was able to draw on reserves of social connections, charm and confidence to set up a series of media internships, Amaan and Elvis both came from working-class backgrounds and found it impossible to secure their dream jobs in the City. The importance of social background was hammered home through the juxtaposition we saw between Ben’s glib admission that he had bluffed his way into one role for which he totally lacked the technical competence and Amaan’s total loss of composure in a practice interview in which he could barely remember his name.

What made this scene particularly chastening was our knowledge that Amaan was himself a high-achiever, a former world kick-boxing champion, with a first in Economics from Nottingham University. Yet, like the other working-class young people in the documentary he lacked the understanding of the rules of the game which would help him to break into the elite, rules which are not taught at school.

Given all of this, it wasn’t surprising that Rajan railed against the unfairness of a system which fails to reward academic success. (It had in his own case but crucially he had a Cambridge degree and a serendipitous TV appearance to help.) How can young people overcome these barriers? Sponsorship and mentoring are one answer: experienced hands can pass on the (often-unspoken) rules of the game. Another is for organisations to look beyond ‘polish’ and ‘ease’ and instead base their recruitment on a wider range of criteria. Only in that way can true organisational diversity be achieved.

How to Break into the Elite (BBC) is available on the BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000772n/how-to-break-into-the-elite