Organizations, Occupations, and Inequality
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis examines the organizational and occupational dynamics of social inequality. It explores how organizations and occupations contribute to and can help address patterns of social inequality. Each paper investigates a different aspect of social inequality within the workplace – from the micro-dynamics of social inequality in daily interaction (Paper 1) to how occupational ‘archetypes’ – i.e., mental schemata about occupations – serve to recreate patterns of social inequality (Paper 2) as well as how organizational practices both contribute to and can help address patterns of social inequality (Paper 3). Jointly, these papers suggest that an occupational lens on social inequality can help us to further advance our understanding of patterns of social inequality, thereby opening up important opportunities for future research. My thesis encompasses three papers: Paper 1 examines how managers and experts negotiate control in bureaucratic organizations. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a major UK hospital’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we find that experts in their field struggled to influence managerial decision-making. Over time, a process emerged that allowed subordinate experts to gain influence on managerial decision-making. However, influence could only be sustained in the presence of well-established relationships with individuals in positions of authority. Importantly, these relationships were distributed unevenly across the organization, with individuals in lower-status occupations and sub-specialties having the least social capital to draw on. This project highlights the importance of considering occupational dynamics as important sources of social inequality because occupations distribute resources, thereby enabling or constraining agency, which serves to recreate patterns of inequality. Occupational dynamics can therefore be particularly revealing in better understanding the micro- foundations of how social inequality is instantiated in dai…
abstract: This thesis examines the organizational and occupational dynamics of social inequality. It explores how organizations and occupations contribute to and can help address patterns of social inequality. Each paper investigates a different aspect of social inequality within the workplace – from the micro-dynamics of social inequality in daily interaction (Paper 1) to how occupational ‘archetypes’ – i.e., mental schemata about occupations – serve to recreate patterns of social inequality (Paper 2) as well as how organizational practices both contribute to and can help address patterns of social inequality (Paper 3). Jointly, these papers suggest that an occupational lens on social inequality can help us to further advance our understanding of patterns of social inequality, thereby opening up important opportunities for future research. My thesis encompasses three papers: Paper 1 examines how managers and experts negotiate control in bureaucratic organizations. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a major UK hospital’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we find that experts in their field struggled to influence managerial decision-making. Over time, a process emerged that allowed subordinate experts to gain influence on managerial decision-making. However, influence could only be sustained in the presence of well-established relationships with individuals in positions of authority. Importantly, these relationships were distributed unevenly across the organization, with individuals in lower-status occupations and sub-specialties having the least social capital to draw on. This project highlights the importance of considering occupational dynamics as important sources of social inequality because occupations distribute resources, thereby enabling or constraining agency, which serves to recreate patterns of inequality. Occupational dynamics can therefore be particularly revealing in better understanding the micro- foundations of how social inequality is instantiated in dai…
author: Wessendorf, Andrea
language: eng
keywords: Social inequality, Inequality, Occupations, Organizations
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2022-02-01
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:23Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.84836