Making a difference? The use (and abuse) of diversity management at the UK's elite law firms
Making a difference? The use (and abuse) of diversity management at the UK's elite law firms
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DOI：
10.1177/0950017010380639
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发表时间：
2010-12-01
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Ashley, Louise
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ashley, Louise
英国的精英律师事务所最近看到了一种转变，即从只谈论机会平等，转向同时采用多元化的话语。本文以伦敦金融城的五家精英律师事务所为例，研究了这一转变，从中了解多元化战略作为一种基于社会阶层扩大企业法律专业准入的手段的价值。一些研究表明，法律部门的文化习俗如何维持基于阶级的排他性机制。很少有人关注如何在一个经过修订的、表面上“庆祝”差异的制度框架内维持这种差异。这项研究表明，尽管多元化战略对改变组织文化作用不大，但那些既认识到行业内职业偏见的深度，又认识到英国各地教育不平等的现实，可能会证明是相对进步的。
The UK's elite law firms have recently seen a shift from talking about equality of opportunity alone to the adoption of a diversity discourse as well. This article examines this transition for what it can tell us about the value of diversity strategies as a means for widening access to the corporate legal profession on the basis of social class, focusing on five elite law firms based in the City of London. A number of studies have demonstrated how cultural practices within the legal sector maintain exclusionary mechanisms based on class. There has been less attention to how this is sustained within an amended institutional framework which outwardly 'celebrates' difference. This research suggests that though diversity strategies do little to change organisational cultures, those that recognise both the depth of professional prejudice within the sector and the reality of educational inequality across the UK may prove relatively progressive nonetheless.