Can a homeless man become a top manager? And vice versa?

Our social environment determines almost everything

We all belong to one social stratum – a milieu. Our fashion tastes, what music we listen to, eating habits, political preferences, our home decor, and even many things we think make us unique are in fact a kind of “milieu uniform”. We are much less individual than we think. We look and behave like the rest of our milieu, our “pack”.

Our genes have their share – but we are all victims of our socialization

Is there a way out? Just change shifts?

Go – my social scientist. With one exception – the top management!

They say it’s a closed society. You can’t get in. And – good
for those inside – not out. No matter how many mistakes are made there – one continues to earn money: outrageously much money!

No performance-related pay and no existential fears

No committed middle-class employee will take the job from a top manager: this is the conclusion of a sociological analysis. For it is not a question of diligence and not of ability. It’s about background.

Recent scandals show that this assumption is no longer inevitably valid

Meanwhile there are “fallen” of the top management. Or so it seems.

Thanks to digitisation Scandals more often in public today

In the age of digitalisation, collusion is becoming increasingly difficult. People are not good at keeping secrets. In addition, they are now distributed via the Internet at almost the speed of light. The world has become more transparent. Secret arrangements and roped parties in back rooms are becoming increasingly difficult.

The future will show whether this new transparency will make social classes more permeable – whether the utopia of a fairer distribution of wealth can become reality.

More about social mobility and equal opportunities here.