AQRiE Feb 2023 Seminar ─ Understanding social inequalities in creative occupations: Social mobility, education and downward mobility

Abstract

Social mobility in the cultural sector is currently an important issue in government policy and public discussion, associated with perceptions of a collapse in numbers of working-class origin individuals becoming artists, actors, musicians and authors. The question of who works in creative occupations has also attracted significant sociological and policy attention. Until recently there had been little empirically grounded studies into the changing social composition of such occupations.

Orian Brook has recently co-authored an article, published in the journal Sociology, which used the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study to show that, while those from more privileged social backgrounds have long dominated, there has been no change in the relative class mobility chances of gaining access to creative work. She also examines the role of higher education in explaining social mobility in creative occupations. Orian will present this paper, followed by work in progress looking at downward social mobility into creative work. Using data from the UK’s Labour Force Survey, she demonstrates that cultural jobs exhibit high levels of downward mobility. She will consider how social, economic, and cultural resources allow the downwardly mobile to compete more effectively in cultural labour markets.

Speaker biography

Orian Brook is Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. She researches social and spatial inequalities, particularly in the creative economy, and has a special interest in the use of administrative and linked data. She has a PhD from the University of St Andrews, and previously worked as a researcher within the cultural sector.

Find out more about Dr Orian Brook.

For further enquiries about this event, please contact us at AQRiE-Hub@ed.ac.uk