The class ceiling in the Netherlands: Exploring earnings disparities through social class origins and cultural capital

The class ceiling studies when people’s class background has a considerable impact on occupational trajectories, limiting the attainment of higher incomes. Basing on the theories of Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI), Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI), and cultural fit, this research attempted to fill a gap in the research by investigating the relationship between top professionals' salaries and their class of origin in order to encourage the study of the class ceiling in the allegedly meritocratic and egalitarian Dutch society. Moreover, I focused on how this relationship is shaped and influenced by cultural capital. I rely on a regression analysis on data from the LISS panel (Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences), a representative sample of Dutch individuals. On the basis of this article, it was not found a class ceiling on earnings. But, the moderating effect of institutionalized cultural capital was confirmed. It looks like once individuals hold top‐professional jobs, their earnings are determined by work category, not by their family background. However, the sample also reveals other types of inequalities: important differences in cultural capital between classes of origin and a scarcity of people from the less-privileged social classes in top-professions. This could be interpreted as a symptom of a gate to enter prestigious jobs. Remedial measures are suggested. More studies are recommended to redress any limitations of this paper and definitively verify the presence of a class ceiling in the Netherlands.