I use cultural capital as a conceptual framework for examining gender inequality at work. While much previous research has been situated in hypermasculine work settings, this study takes place in an industry (retail fashion) and an organization that are not hypermasculine—yet, the company’s cultural capital is dominated by men, and a glass ceiling persists. Using ethnographic data collected at the headquarters of a major Midwestern multinational retail corporation, I examine this puzzle. I explain how the cultural capital valued by upper management is gendered and contributes to the maintenance of the glass ceiling, and how members of upper management succeed or fail at activating their cultural capital. I also illustrate how the company’s industry and internal structure enable some women and gay men to successfully navigate a men-dominated work culture. In doing so, I attempt to synthesize previous studies on homophily and gendered organizations.
AckerJoan. 2011. “Theorizing Gender Race and Class in Organizations.” In Handbook of Gender, Work and Organization, edited by JeanesEmmaKnightsDavidMartinPatricia Yancey, 65–80. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley.
4.
AschaffenburgKarenMaasIneke. 1997. “Cultural and Educational Careers: The Dynamics of Social Reproduction.” American Sociological Review62 (4): 573–87.
5.
BourdieuPierre. 1976. “Marriage Strategies as Strategies of Social Reproduction.” In Family and Society, edited by ForsterRobertRanumOrest, 117–44. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
6.
BourdieuPierre. (1979) 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
BourdieuPierre. 2001. “The Forms of Capital.” In The Sociology of Economic Life, edited by GranovetterMark S.SwedbergRichard, 96–111. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
8.
BrittonDana M.2000. “The Epistemology of the Gendered Organization.” Gender & Society14:418–34.
CarterPrudence L.2005. Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11.
Catalyst. 2011. 2011 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Executive Officers and Top Earners. New York: Catalyst.
12.
CherneskyRoslyn H.2003. “Examining the Glass Ceiling: Gender Influences on Promotion Decisions.” Administration in Social Work27 (2): 13–18.
13.
Cognard-BlackAndrew J.2004. “Will They Stay, or Will They Go? Sex-Atypical Work among Token Men Who Teach.” Sociological Quarterly45 (1): 113–39.
14.
CotterDavid A.HermsenJoan M.OvadiaSethVannemanReeve. 2001. “The Glass Ceiling Effect.” Social Forces80 (2): 655–81.
15.
Davies-NetzleySally Ann. 1998. “Women above the Glass Ceiling: Perceptions on Corporate Mobility and Strategies for Success.” Gender & Society12 (3): 339–55.
16.
DellingerKirsten. 2004. “Masculinities in ‘Safe’ and ‘Embattled’ Organizations: Accounting for Pornographic and Feminist Magazines.” Gender & Society18 (5): 545–66.
17.
DiMaggioPaul. 1982. “Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status Culture Participation on the Grades of U.S. High School Students.” American Sociological Review47 (2): 189–201.
18.
DornbuschSanford M.ScottW. Richard. 1975. Evaluation and the Exercise of Authority: a Theory of Control Applied to Diverse Organizations. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
19.
DumaisSusan A.WardAaron. 2010. “Cultural Capital and First-Generation College Success.” Poetics38 (3): 245–65.
20.
ElliottJames R.SmithRyan A.2004. “Race, Gender, and Workplace Power.” American Sociological Review69 (3): 365–86.
21.
EmersonRobert M.FretzRachel I.ShawLinda L.2011. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. 2nd ed.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
22.
EricksonBonnie H.1996. “Culture, Class, and Connections.” American Journal of Sociology102 (1): 217–51.
23.
EricksonBonnie H.AlbanesePatriciaDrakulicSlobodan. 2000. “Gender on a Jagged Edge.” Work and Occupations27 (3): 294–318.
24.
GlaserBarney G.StraussAnselm L.1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine.
25.
GormanElizabeth H.2006. “Work Uncertainty and the Promotion of Professional Women: The Case of Law Firm Partnership.” Social Forces85 (2): 865–90.
26.
GormanElizabeth HKmecJulie A.2009. “Hierarchical Rank and Women’s Organizational Mobility: Glass Ceilings in Corporate Law Firms.” American Journal of Sociology114 (5): 1428–74.
27.
HochschildArlie Russell. 1997. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books.
28.
IbarraHerminia. 1997. “Paving an Alternative Route: Gender Differences in Managerial Networks.” Social Psychology Quarterly60 (1): 91–102.
29.
IbarraHerminia. 1999. “Provisional Selves: Experimenting with Image and Identity in Professional Adaptation.” Administrative Science Quarterly44 (4): 764–91.
30.
JackallRobert. 1988. Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers. New York: Oxford University Press.
31.
JohnsonCathrynDowdTimothyRidgewayCecilia L.CookKaren S.MasseyDouglas S.2006. “Legitimacy as a Social Process.” Annual Review of Sociology32 (1): 53–78.
32.
KanterRosabeth Moss. 1977. Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.
33.
KayFiona M.HaganJohn. 1995. “The Persistent Glass Ceiling: Gendered Inequalities in the Earnings of Lawyers.” British Journal of Sociology46 (2): 279–310.
34.
KayFiona M.HaganJohn. 1998. “Raising the Bar: The Gender Stratification of Law-Firm Capital.” American Sociological Review63 (5): 728–43.
35.
KinseyKaryl A.StalansLoretta J.1999. “Which ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead and Why? Cultural Capital and Legal Mobilization in Frontline Law Enforcement.” Law and Society Review334 (4): 993–1023.
36.
LamontMicheleLareauAnnette. 1988. “Cultural Capital: Allusions, Gaps and Glissandos in Recent Theoretical Developments.” Sociological Theory6 (2): 153–68.
37.
LareauAnnette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
38.
LareauAnnetteHorvatErin McNamara. 1999. “Moments of Social Inclusion and Exclusion: Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Family-School Relationships.” Sociology of Education72 (1): 37–53.
39.
MalatJennifer. 2006. “Expanding Research on the Racial Disparity in Medical Treatment with Ideas from Sociology.” Health10 (3): 303–21.
40.
MartinPatricia Yancey. 2003. “‘Said and Done’ versus ‘Saying and Doing’: Gendering Practices, Practicing Gender at Work.” Gender & Society17 (3): 342–66.
41.
MaumeDavid J.1999. “Glass Ceilings and Glass Escalators: Occupational Segregation and Race and Sex Differences in Managerial Promotions.” Work and Occupations26 (4): 483–509.
42.
MaumeDavid J.2004. “Is the Glass Ceiling a Unique Form of Inequality? Evidence from a Random-Effects Model of Managerial Attainment.” Work and Occupations31 (2): 250–74.
43.
MaumeDavid J.PurcellDavid A.2007. “The ‘Over-Paced’ American: Recent Trends in the Intensification of Work.” In Research in the Sociology of Work, vol. 17, Workplace Temporalities, ed. RubinBeth A.Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
44.
McGuireGail M.2002. “Gender, Race, and the Shadow Structure: A Study of Informal Networks and Inequality in a Work Organization.” Gender & Society16 (3): 303–22.
45.
McIlweeJudith SamsonRobinsonJ. Gregg. 1992. Women in Engineering: Gender, Power, and Workplace Culture. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
46.
MorrillCalvin. 1995. The Executive Way: Conflict Management in Corporations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
47.
PierceJennifer L.1995. Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms. Berkeley: University of California Press.
48.
RaginsBelle RoseScanduraTerri. 1997. “The Way We Were: Gender and the Termination of Mentoring Relationships.” Journal of Applied Psychology82:945–53.
49.
Rios-AguilarCeciliaKiyamaJudy MarquezGravittMichaelMollLuis C.2011. “Funds of Knowledge for the Poor and Forms of Capital for the Rich? A Capital Approach to Examining Funds of Knowledge.” Theory and Research in Education9 (2): 163–84.
50.
RosserSue V.2004. The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and the Struggle to Succeed. London: Routledge.
51.
RothLouise Marie. 2004a. “Bringing Clients Back In: Homophily Preferences and Inequality on Wall Street.” Sociological Quarterly45 (4): 613–35.
52.
RothLouise Marie. 2004b. “The Social Psychology of Tokenism: Status and Homophily Processes on Wall Street.” Sociological Perspectives47 (2): 189–214.
53.
RubinHerbert J.RubinIrene. 2011. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. 3rd ed.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
54.
SchwalbeMichaelGodwinSandraHoldenDaphneSchrockDouglasThompsonShealyWolkomirMichele. 2000. “Generic Processes in the Reproduction of Inequality: An Interactionist Analysis.” Social Forces79 (2): 419–52.
55.
ShermanRachel. 2007. Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels. Berkeley: University of California Press.
56.
ShimJanet K.2010. “Cultural Health Capital.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior51 (1): 1–15.
57.
StuberJenny. 2005. “Asset and Liability? The Importance of Context in the Occupational Experiences of Upwardly Mobile White Adults.” Sociological Forum20 (1): 139–66.
58.
SwartzDavid. 1997. Culture & Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
59.
TramonteLuciaWillmsJ. Douglas. 2010. “Cultural Capital and Its Effects on Education Outcomes.” Economics of Education Review29 (2): 200.
60.
TurcoCatherine J.2010. “Cultural Foundations of Tokenism: Evidence from the Leveraged Buyout Industry.” American Sociological Review75 (6): 894–913.
61.
VallasSteven P.2003. “Rediscovering the Color Line within Work Organizations: The ‘Knitting of Racial Groups’ Revisited.” Work and Occupations30 (4): 379–400.
62.
WildhagenTina. 2009. “Why Does Cultural Capital Matter for High School Academic Performance? An Empirical Assessment of Teacher-Selection and Self-Selection Mechanisms as Explanations of the Cultural Capital Effect.” Sociological Quarterly50 (1): 173–200.
63.
WilliamsChristine L.1992. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions.” Social Problems39 (3): 253–67.
64.
WilliamsChristine L.1995. Still a Man’s World: Men Who Do “Women’s Work,” Men and Masculinity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
65.
WilliamsJoan C.2010. Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
