Managerial Capitalism and White-Collar Professions: Social Mobility in Australia's Corporate Elite

Wright, C; Forsyth, H

Managerial Capitalism and White-Collar Professions: Social Mobility in Australia's Corporate Elite

Wright, C

Forsyth, H

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Publisher:: LIVERPOOL UNIV PRESS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: LABOUR HISTORY, 2021, 121, (121), pp. 99-127
Issue Date:: 2021-11-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wright, C https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4215-4169
dc.contributor.author	Forsyth, H
dc.date.accessioned	2022-03-28T05:07:05Z
dc.date.available	2022-03-28T05:07:05Z
dc.date.issued	2021-11-01
dc.identifier.citation	LABOUR HISTORY, 2021, 121, (121), pp. 99-127
dc.identifier.issn	0023-6942
dc.identifier.issn	1839-3039
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155634
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p> This article considers the interdependence of managerial capitalism with the historical constitution of professional work in Australia. Using data on the composition of the boards of Australia’s largest companies between 1910 and 2018, we show a deep connection between the managerial class and the top layers of professional hierarchies. Professionals in Australia forged a managerial-capitalist elite within large corporations, relying on a combination of professional expertise and signals of legitimacy that were enabled through higher education and accreditation structures. Relatively low levels of professional enclosure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created opportunities for Australians from middle- and working-class backgrounds to move into the capitalist elite. These opportunities were reduced significantly from the 1980s onwards as pathways to managerial roles themselves enclosed and as managerialism - as a mode of production - increasingly dominated global capitalism. The result was that by the end of the twentieth century, Australia’s corporate elite more closely resembled the rest of the world’s in its homogeneity and inaccessibility. This demonstrates the central role of professions in the reproduction of Australian capitalism over time, and the influence of professional enclosure on social mobility and inequality.</jats:p>
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	LIVERPOOL UNIV PRESS
dc.relation.ispartof	LABOUR HISTORY
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3828/jlh.2021.20
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1503 Business and Management, 2103 Historical Studies, 2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields
dc.subject.classification	History
dc.title	Managerial Capitalism and White-Collar Professions: Social Mobility in Australia's Corporate Elite
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	121
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies
utslib.for	2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-03-28T05:07:04Z
pubs.issue	121
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	121
utslib.citation.issue	121

Abstract:

This article considers the interdependence of managerial capitalism with the historical constitution of professional work in Australia. Using data on the composition of the boards of Australia’s largest companies between 1910 and 2018, we show a deep connection between the managerial class and the top layers of professional hierarchies. Professionals in Australia forged a managerial-capitalist elite within large corporations, relying on a combination of professional expertise and signals of legitimacy that were enabled through higher education and accreditation structures. Relatively low levels of professional enclosure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created opportunities for Australians from middle- and working-class backgrounds to move into the capitalist elite. These opportunities were reduced significantly from the 1980s onwards as pathways to managerial roles themselves enclosed and as managerialism - as a mode of production - increasingly dominated global capitalism. The result was that by the end of the twentieth century, Australia’s corporate elite more closely resembled the rest of the world’s in its homogeneity and inaccessibility. This demonstrates the central role of professions in the reproduction of Australian capitalism over time, and the influence of professional enclosure on social mobility and inequality.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155634