Patrick West

There’s nothing ‘elitist’ about kids following in their parents’ footsteps

Children of doctors are 24 times more likely than their peers to become doctors. Children of lawyers are 17 times more likely to go into law, and children of those in film or television are 12 times more likely to enter these fields. The same pattern is repeated in architecture and in the performing arts. These are the revelations announced in a new book, ‘The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged’, by Sam Friedman, a professor at the London School of Economics, and Daniel Laurison. The book sets out to explore the “helping hands” that allow the well-connected middle-classes to retain their domination in elite professions. Dr Friedman calls some of these figures “staggering”. But are they really? Historically, they are nothing of the sort. After all, there is nothing remotely new, abnormal or “elitist” about children following in their parents’ footsteps when it comes to career choice.

The acting world abounds in Redgraves and Foxes, Fondas and Fairbankses.

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