Louise Ashley 
Highly Discriminating 
Why the City Isn’t Fair and Diversity Doesn’t Work

Why does the City of London, despite an apparent commitment to recruitment and progression based on objective merit within its hiring practices, continue to reproduce the status quo? Written by a leading expert on diversity and elite professions, this book examines issues of equality in the City, what its practitioners say in public and what they think behind closed doors. Drawing on research, interviews, practitioner literature and internal reports, it argues that hiring practices in the City are highly discriminating in favour of a narrow pool of affluent applicants, and future progress may only be achieved by the state taking a greater role in organizational life. It calls for a policy shift at both the organizational and governmental level to address the implications of widening inequality in the UK.

About the author

Louise Ashley is Senior Lecturer in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London. She has led major research reports for government bodies including the Social Mobility Commission and regularly presents her findings to practitioner audiences in the City and further afield. Her research has also been covered in national and international mainstream media including Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed, The New York Times, The Sydney Herald, The Financial Times and The Guardian.