Like Father, Like Son? The Relationship between Social Origin and Career Success – A SLR

Research on the transmission of social disadvantages between generations shows consistently that access to higher education is still highly stratified. However, less is known about the relationship between social origin and career success, and whether inequalities can be offset within the occupational context. Based on a systematic review of 59 studies, we present prevailing patterns of relationships between social origin and career success, and identify factors that explain them. We find that employees from less privileged families experience significant disadvantages in achieving objective career success (monetary success, occupational status, hierarchical rank). Studies also show that the first two factors persist or worsen over the course of their careers. Conversely, subjective career success proves to be less affected by social origin, although few studies are available on this. Persisting disadvantageous social origin?career success relationships result from the individuals themselves (e.g. due to lower career aspirations) and discriminatory practices in organizations (e.g. lower provision of career support and access to social resources).