In sum, studies of global, respectively transnational class formation focus either on organizations or migration as the driving 'globalizing factor' behind the phenomenon in question. As discussed in section two, in contemporary class analysis, class positions are
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primarily defined by positions in markets13. Their absence in the existing discourse on global class undermines the clarity of the concept, allowing for an all too easy dismissal of the issue.
As I showed in this chapter, there have been other attempts aiming at investigating global classes. I proceeded by examining these attempts: the individual attributes approach presents a problem of scalability, since the space of class-defining variables is too diverse on the world scale. However, the empirical data generated through this approach points towards a small group at the top of the global social structure which might form a global class. Similarly, the Marxist approach to the economy has generated the thesis of a transnational capitalist class, centred on organisational hierarchies and their positions of control. The focus of the Marxist
“Transnational capitalist class” (TCC) thesis lies therefore on organisations as instances of globalisation. Bourdieu’s theory of class has been utilised for the analysis of global class structures as well – however, only partially: while his capital theory has been employed to augment arguments in the discourse on the TCC, other features of his theory have been incorporated in research on “migrant middle classes”. Both cases however only adapt partial aspects of Bourdieu’s theory, and neither deals with the fundamentals of class formation, i.e., markets, on a global level. While the TCC thesis and the use of parts of Bourdieu’s conceptual apparatus point in the direction of how to research global class formation, the existing literature only goes “half way”and does not engage with Bourdieu’s cultural understanding of the economy. Especially the discourse on the TCC remains focused on organisations and forms of capital a means of (more or less) conscious domination in the setting of “objective” capitalist structures (e.g. Robinson 2011, 2012, Murray 2006). Bourdieu’s field approach however allows to hone in on the changing form of economic exchange and its consequences not just for the power relations of society, but for the everyday culture of economic actors.
13 As discussed in Chapter 2.3.2 (pp. 33-35), the predominance of markets arises from the reformulation of the Marxist notion of positioning class relative to the production process as positions on the markets for factors of production (labour, land, and capital)
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PART TWO: The Formation of a Global Financial Class
I concluded the theoretical component of my investigation with the assessment that the research of global class formation requires a fresh look at how class should be conceptualised, going back to the question of how a class constitutes itself as a group. While many approaches to class focus on markers such as the distribution of income, or authority in the workplace, I follow the arguments of Pierre Bourdieu, who advocated for taking common engagement in a specific social field as the basis for class formation. Therefore, a global social field can form the basis for the formation of a global social class.
Following this discussion, I proceed by outlining the empirical part of this thesis. In Chapter Five I present my operationalisation of the research question in line with the theoretical framework developed in part one, followed by a description of the employed research methods in Chapter Six.
The first task in researching global class formation is to establish that a field is actually global. That financial markets are such a global social field is made clear in Chapter Seven by tracing the historical development of modern finance. Financial markets are central to the process of globalisation, and their functioning is founded on shared practices of the market participants. I analyse the process of financial globalisation through the practices that form the field and the institutions sustaining them and show how the field has transformed over the course of the twentieth century, from a nationally embedded field to a global field. The reason for this transformation is to be found in the evolution of the dominant practices, i.e., the rise of investment banking vis-à-vis traditional forms of bank-based lending. This change in practices and institutional structure is based on the propagation of investment practices, which change economic power relations in favour of financial professionals, who now occupy a central role in the power relations sustaining global capitalism.
As all forms of sociality, the field of global finance exists in a specific geography and encompasses distinct physical places. As I argue in Chapter Seven (pp. 88-95), the geography of global finance can be conceived of as a network of financial centres; global cities whose character is defined by the role they play in the transnational division of labour underpinning the field. In Chapter Eight I present my analysis of the local contexts in which I studied the formation of a global financial class, the financial centres of Frankfurt and Sydney.
In Chapters Nine and Ten I present my findings on the trajectories of financial professionals in the global field of finance, which I examined through narrative Interviews with financial
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professionals about their careers in the global field of finance, before I draw my conclusions in Chapter Eleven.
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5 Approaching Class Formation in the Global Field of Finance
In part one of this thesis I have explored the arguments about globalisation and global class formation. I examined two prevalent theoretical approaches to globalisation - political economy and social theory - as well as contemporary approaches to class and found that in all of these bodies of literature, global class formation sits in a theoretical “blind spot”. Although a global economy should lead to global class formation, the conceptualization of economic action as external to the social and the prevalent recursion to the state as a container of society preclude a standard approach to the issue of global class formation. I concluded my investigation by proposing that Bourdieu’s field-theoretical approach to class, which allows for a differentiated view of the economy, represents the approach best suited for conceptualizing global class formation.
In the following discussions, I apply Bourdieu’s field theoretical approach by analysing global financial markets as a site of class formation. In this chapter I lay out my research design built on the theoretical premises elaborated in Part One. In Chapters Seven to eleven I present the empirical findings of my field research, carried out through a review of the literature on global finance, an institutional comparison of the financial centres Frankfurt and Sydney and an interview study conducted with investment bankers from these cities.