This literature review was commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to identify the socioeconomic barriers (not including education), which prevent access to jobs within the professions.
About the research
Social exclusion is firmly on the political agenda and has been debated for many years in academia, especially from the standpoint of economic and class inequalities. More recently the issues of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation and disability have contributed to this debate. The debate centres on two positions; illustrated by Goldthorpe’s meritocracy model which places the emphasis on the individual and Saunders’ social advantage/disadvantage model which is based on societal barriers. While there is a wealth of literature on socioeconomic issues, including access to higher education, there is an extensive knowledge gap in research linking these barriers specifically to access to jobs within the professions.
This review goes on to consider some specific societal barriers to access that include the changing nature of work; the demand for new skills which disadvantage those already hindered by a lack of basic education; the impact of competency-based interviewing; financial barriers; access to information; working hours and work cultures and information technology. While there is a fair amount of existing research on these barriers very little specifically addresses their impact on access to jobs in the professions.
At the individual level there is a body of literature on motivation and aspiration that addresses how perceptions and stereotypical views impact on both how socioeconomically disadvantaged groups view the professions and on the employers’ views of these groups. The evidence points to perceptions being a powerful barrier to access to jobs in the professions but there is little or no existing research on how this is being addressed or how successful these interventions are.
Our conclusion is that previous research has focussed primarily on class, structural and cultural issues leaving other socioeconomic groups relatively under researched. This is especially prevalent in relation to the barriers these groups face in securing jobs in the professions. The anecdotal evidence of initiatives by professional bodies and employers indicates there are attempts to address these issues which need to be collected and
assessed.
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