Tomlinson, J orcid.org/0000-0002-1863-885X, Valizade, D orcid.org/0000-0003-3005-2277, Muzio, D et al. (2 more authors) (2019) Privileges and penalties in the legal profession: an intersectional analysis of career progression. British Journal of Sociology, 70 (3). pp. 1043-1066. ISSN 0007-1315
Abstract
Intersectionality theory is concerned with integrating social characteristics to better understanding complex human relations and inequalities in organizations and societies (McCall 2005). Recently, intersectionality research has taken a categorical and quantitative turn as scholars critically adopt but retain existing social categories to explain differences in labour market outcomes. A key contention is that social categories carry penalties or privileges and their intersection promotes or hinders the life chances of particular groups and individuals. An emergent debate is whether the intersection of disadvantaged characteristics (such as female gender or minority ethnic status) produce penalties that are additive, multiplicative or ameliorative. Research is inconclusive and as yet pays little attention to moderating factors such as employer type, size, geographic location or work profile. Drawing on administrative records for individuals qualified as solicitors in England and Wales, collected by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), combined with aggregated workforce data and firm characteristics of their law firms, we undertake a statistical analysis of the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the profession with a degree of precision and nuance not previously possible. In response to calls to broaden studies of inequalities and intersectionality beyond their effect on pay or income (Castilla 2008) we focus on career progression to partnership as our key measure of success. The original contribution of our study is twofold. First, we establish statistically different profiles of law firms, showing how the solicitors’ profession is stratified by gender, ethnicity and socio‐economic background, as well as the type of legal work undertaken by developing a model of socio‐economic stratification in the profession. Second, we demonstrate that while penalties tend to be additive (i.e. the sum of the individual ethnic and gender penalties) this varies significantly by law firm profile and in some situations the effect is ameliorative.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018, London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Tomlinson, J. , Valizade, D. , Muzio, D. , Charlwood, A. and Aulakh, S. (2018), Privileges and penalties in the legal profession: an intersectional analysis of career progression. The British Journal of Sociology., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12375. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Intersectionality; gender; ethnicity; solicitors’ profession; career progression |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Solicitors Regulation Authority None Given |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Mar 2018 12:35 |
Last Modified: | 26 Apr 2020 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/1468-4446.12375 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:128629 |