‘Like Skydiving without a Parachute’: How Class Origin Shapes Occupational Trajectories in British Acting

Abstract

There is currently widespread concern that access to, and success within, the British acting profession is increasingly dominated by those from privileged class origins. This article seeks to empirically interrogate this claim using data on actors from the Great British Class Survey (N = 404) and 47 qualitative interviews. First, survey data demonstrate that actors from working-class origins are significantly underrepresented within the profession. Second, they indicate that even when those from working-class origins do enter the profession they do not have access to the same economic, cultural and social capital as those from privileged backgrounds. Third, and most significantly, qualitative interviews reveal how these capitals shape the way actors can respond to shared occupational challenges. In particular we demonstrate the profound occupational advantages afforded to actors who can draw upon familial economic resources, legitimate embodied markers of class origin (such as Received Pronunciation) and a favourable typecasting.

The Class Pay Gap in Higher Professional and Managerial Occupations

“…Again, although it is beyond our scope to explain why the upwardly mobile are less likely to work in London, a number of British studies suggest that graduates from working-class backgrounds are less willing and less financially able to capitalize on career opportunities in the capital. They often lack the familial economic resources required for geographic relocation, and they are less able to negotiate the high costs of housing and the precariousness of the early-career labor market once in London 25 (Friedman, O'Brien, and Laurison forthcoming;Furlong and Cartmel 2005;Pollard, Pearson, and Wilson 2004). Finally, as we saw in Table 2, there are substantial differences in the class-origin composition of different occupations within NS-SEC 1.…”

The autonomous world reversed: comparing liberal policy and autonomy in the performing arts

“…Because of the thousands of available actors, an artistic director can choose the exact character best suited for a specific role. This practice of typecasting has also caused a situation in Britain where actors of certain social backgrounds are over-represented (Friedman, Laurison, & O'Brien, 2016). From the directors point of view, the absence of an ensemble may imply a flexible situation in which he may choose the exact actor best suited for a certain role.…”

Economic rewards in the cultural upper class: The impact of social origin on income within the Norwegian field of culture

“…12 This is line with Bourdieu's reasoning that it is those who are able to deal with the economic constraints that ultimately can 'reap symbolic and even "economic" profits on their symbolic investments' (Bourdieu, 1996: 149) and with Friedman et al (2016) study of British actors. The results here are also in accordance with previous Norwegian findings on other wider occupational groups.…”

“…As Bourdieu states, 'only those who know how to reckon and deal with the "economic" constraints inscribed in this denied economy are fully able to reap symbolic and even "economic" profits on their symbolic investments' (Bourdieu, 1996: 149). Even though economic resources might not be vital in defining cultural agents' identities (Craig [ 2 4 _ T D $ D I F F ] & Dubois, 2010: 452), it could still be of great importance in the creation of artistic careers and their success (Friedman et al, 2016;Scott, 2012;). Due to the intense competition within cultural fields, the willingness to invest in the most risky À and thus potentially most rewarding À cultural projects may vary according to individual's economic security.…”

“…Since cultural fields are often characterised by a great oversupply of labour (Menger, 1999;Røyseng, Mangset, & Borgen, 2007), with corresponding employment and income precariousness (Craig & Dubois, 2010;Gill, 2013;Reay, 2004), simply being able to make a living from cultural production could be seen as a token of success (Friedman et al, 2016); even more so if one achieves a lengthy or permanent position. However, to measure success over and above this is a far more complicated task than, for instance, in the field of finance, where economic rewards are believed to be more directly related to success.…”