The Balancing Act of Elite Recruitment: Converting modesty to membership in Norwegian Hiring Processes

• In Event: 20411 - Elites

Abstract

In recent years, elites' self-portrayal and their display of cultural distinctions have changed. Across a variety of countries, it has been found that the contemporary elite want to portray themselves as ordinary, appear culturally omnivorous, and downplay their own status. Accompanied by a general increase in inequality since the 1980s, today's elites seem to maneuver this context by justifying their own resources: self-presentations linked to ordinariness and merit are found to function as positive legitimization strategies. However, little is known about if and how these moral dispositions concretely play into elites' acquisition of privilege and power, and especially if and how this new elite landscape affects the playing field when rewards and privileges, such as job positions, are distributed. To investigate these issues, I present a qualitative case study on elite hiring processes in Norway. Drawing on 10 months of ethnographic data – observing full hiring cycles from nine elite firms and approximately 200 candidate evaluations – as well as 50 interviews with hiring agents, I find that getting a job in an elite firm requires a delicate balancing act: The evaluators in these firms sought candidates who successfully maneuvered the delicate balancing act between showing displays of dominance and status while also showing displays of communality. This study shows that job candidates were assessed on how well they balanced 1) conversational dynamics, 2) displays of skills and qualifications, and 3) emotional displays. These elite performances of modesty functions as a form of cultural capital that has currency in elite labor markets. These elite performances of modesty are evaluated by classed and gendered connotations of merit and also serve to shape and reproduce structures in the elite labor market in classed and gendered ways.

Author

• Lisa M. B. Sølvberg, University of Bergen