Bringing “Class” into the Classroom: Addressing Social Class Privilege Through Management Education

Abstract

Research increasingly acknowledges the far-reaching impact of social class and the many ways in which it can meaningfully shape individuals’ work and working lives. As such, social class and concomitant class privilege represent relevant and necessary content for the management classroom. In this paper, we begin by offering an overview of select research addressing social class and work, which helps to emphasize the significance of social class in organizational life. Next, to help educators bring “class” into the management classroom, we present teaching resources from across disciplines. We also advocate for educator reflexivity, the development of broader vocabularies around social class, and engagement with activities that increase students’ understanding of class-based inequalities at the individual, institutional, and social or cultural levels. Overall, we bring together research and resources that relate to social class and work, to not only inspire and inform management educators, but also to offer resources that help students prepare for navigating a class-diverse workplace.