Entering finance: justifying career choices in a stigmatized industry - American Journal of Cultural Sociology Working in finance is simultaneously associated with prestige and stigma. This paper, utilizing an economies of worth framework, delves into how industry actors—both field novices and firms—morally legitimize their position in finance. By analyzing company career webpages (N: 120) and conducting in-depth and elicitation interviews with business school students in finance (N: 29), the study examines (1) how finance novices and firms justify their position in finance and (2) to what extent both actors find common ground. By focusing on the different ways disputes, social relations, value repertoires, and methods of argumentation are interpreted, the study identifies three regimes that ascribe moral worth to finance workers: (1) virtuous giver, (2) responsible steward, and (3) visionary leader. The study reveals that, in terms of the virtuous giver regime, there is only a weak alignment between the cultural toolkit of industry novices and the cultural accounts of financial firms, while the other two regimes are as prevalent in both modes of culture.

How do finance students and companies engage in moral work to justify entrance into the field?
Our article on this question - co-authored by Kobe De Keere - has just been published in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Morgen (!) is het dan echt zo ver: de verdediging van mijn proefschrift. Lees meer over mijn onderzoek in dit artikel.

📢 Kind reminder to submit to our Career workshop "Skills and career in changing labor markets" before December 20!
We can't promise you sunshine in Amsterdam, but we guarantee you an exciting program! 🔥

We're organizing a workshop in Amsterdam (26-27 May 2025)! Please submit if you're working on education, skills, or labor markets.

The call for papers can be found below, more info on careerproject.eu/CAREER_works....

The deadline for submitting is December 20. Please spread the word ("retweet")

CAREER workshop 2025 - Career Project Call for papers for the CAREER workshop "Skills and Careers in Changing Labour Markets" to be held in Amsterdam on 26-27 May 2025.

📢The ERC CAREER project is organizing a workshop on “Skills and Careers in Changing Labour Markets” in Amsterdam on 26-27 May 2025!
👉With keynotes from Siwei Cheng and Heike Solga
Interested? Chech our call for papers and apply!
careerproject.eu/CAREER_works...

Interested in how occupational mobility trajectories vary between workers with different educational backgrounds? You are in luck, the first paper of my PhD just got published in Sociological Science. Joint work with @thijsbol.bsky.social and Hanno Kruse.

sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10...