Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite

Mairi Maclean; Charles Harvey; Gerhard Kling

doi:10.1177/0170840613509919

Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite

Mairi Maclean^*, Charles Harvey, Gerhard Kling

^*Corresponding author for this work

Accountancy & Finance, Finance

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

74 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper explores pathways to power from the perspective of the French corporate elite. It compares those who enter the ?field of power? with those who fail to reach this final tier. Adopting an innovative econometric approach, we develop and test three hypotheses. These underline the pivotal role of external networks and the strategic advantage of hyper-agency in maintaining power; and indicate that social origin remains a powerful driver in determining success. Birthright and meritocracy emerge as two competing institutional logics which influence life chances. Higher-status agents benefit from mutual recognition which enhances their likelihood of co-option to the extra-corporate networks that facilitate hyper-agency. The objectification of class-based differences conceals their arbitrary nature while institutionalizing the principles informing stratification. We re-connect class analysis with organizational theory, arguing that social origin exerts an enduring influence on selection dynamics which inform processes of hierarchical reproduction in the corporate elite and society at large.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	825-855
Number of pages	31
Journal	Organization Studies
Volume	35
Issue number	6
Early online date	22 Jan 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840613509919
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2014

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the insightful comments of John Sillince and members of the SOS Research Group based at the Newcastle University Business School, which helped to improve this paper. We also wish to express our gratitude to the Editor-in-Chief, David Courpasson, and three anonymous Organization Studies reviewers for their thoughtful and perceptive comments which helped us to strengthen our ideas further.

Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Keywords

Bourdieu
elite careers
field of power
French corporate elite
hyper-agency
institutional logics
social class
social mobility

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10.1177/0170840613509919Licence: Unspecified

http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17823/

Gerhard Kling
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite",

abstract = "This paper explores pathways to power from the perspective of the French corporate elite. It compares those who enter the ?field of power? with those who fail to reach this final tier. Adopting an innovative econometric approach, we develop and test three hypotheses. These underline the pivotal role of external networks and the strategic advantage of hyper-agency in maintaining power; and indicate that social origin remains a powerful driver in determining success. Birthright and meritocracy emerge as two competing institutional logics which influence life chances. Higher-status agents benefit from mutual recognition which enhances their likelihood of co-option to the extra-corporate networks that facilitate hyper-agency. The objectification of class-based differences conceals their arbitrary nature while institutionalizing the principles informing stratification. We re-connect class analysis with organizational theory, arguing that social origin exerts an enduring influence on selection dynamics which inform processes of hierarchical reproduction in the corporate elite and society at large.",

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KW - social class

KW - social mobility

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Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Gerhard Kling

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