The Cultural Capital of Audio
Aug 02nd
With the news that working class creatives are severely underrepresented in TV, film and radio, Content is Queen has been digging into class culture in audio. This time our writer Francesca Turauskis is focusing on the personal experiences of working class professionals in audio and podcasting, which highlight a divide that goes beyond money…
When we wrote our short, anonymous survey, we wanted to open up a conversation about the experiences of working class and financially uncertain audio professionals. With our specific request for ‘financially uncertain’ experiences, it is no surprise that issues around pay in audio, radio and podcasting have been a big topic in our previous articles in this series.
However, as one survey response phrased very well: “Class isn’t all about lack of money… this country’s obsession with class permeates all areas of society.” Some of the other concerns we touched on in our first article in this series, such as social currency, lack of regional jobs and outright prejudice, will not only affect individuals but limit the industry.
In this article, I want to give some space to these barriers for working class professionals, and share some experiences and anecdotes that need more attention.
Lack of Connections
The old adage of ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ runs across industries, but more than one person emphasised the lack of personal or family connections as a key barrier in audio. “What seems to have held me back” one person said “is a lack of network connections due to having come to audio from an alternate career path”.
There are free initiatives in audio to help people build those connections – for example the Entry Level Audio Network (ELAN) or networking events from Radio Academy. Yet it’s worth considering that this remaining emphasis on ‘networking’ could be limiting who gets into the industry. As one response said, “the industry at the moment requires people to be complete ‘self-starters’, but that phrase itself is tinged with privilege. Who has the confidence to take the plunge, and where does that confidence come from?”.
I would agree that many people I know in audio (including myself) would fit in the ‘self-starter’ category. I would also argue that for many audio roles there isn’t an intrinsic necessity for ‘confidence’. Jobs such as editing and engineering are based on hard skills, and whilst some soft skills can help in those roles (as we discussed with Aradhna Tayal-Leach) perhaps it is another sign of de-professionalisation that a lot of companies are looking for good ‘all-rounders’. Roles that could be good for the more introverted have been combined with more outward facing roles.
Lack of Cultural Capital
The question of ‘where does that confidence come from?’ hints at the other result of good family connections, which is the cultural capital that can help people from middle and upper-class families get into creative industries. Cultural capital could include knowledge and behaviour that can be picked up from childhood – for example, simply knowing the type of jobs that could be available to you. As one person pointed out: “I absolutely had no idea about what ‘jobs’ might be beyond what I knew from home”.
Even if you know what jobs to aim for, the class divide can mean that “not knowing the secret codes that exist can prevent people from getting access to interviews and before – it happens right at the beginning of the process.” This goes beyond anecdotes – one study focused on independent television looked at the importance of networking to secure work, and found that people with high levels of cultural and social capital were more successful in this respect.
After entering the industry, the cultural capital can be a barrier to belonging. This could be something very specific within the culture of an office – such as a joint hobby or school experience – to a less tangible feeling. One person who had been working in radio and podcasting for more than a decade said “I STILL find a lot of things a bit weird and don’t quite know what the ‘done’ thing is.”
Overt Prejudice
Trying to navigate ‘secret codes’ is one thing, but the anecdotes around how people feel they are treated when they are from working class backgrounds is more serious. We already mentioned the ‘accent snobbery’ previously, and this was something that resonated with many readers. I’ll be looking into this a bit more in the next article, but it is worth saying that this is sometimes overt, and is also a part of reinforcing stereotypes. Chris Mitchell, who was one of Content is Queen’s 2022 micro-grant winners, told me that he has been told that he sounds too “intelligent”, “not street enough”, and even “not Black enough”.
I also found it interesting – and disheartening – to see anecdotes of location prejudice, where people were told their location was a reason for not being hired. Sumit Sharma, an award-winning producer and sound designer based in the Midlands, is currently trying to get out of freelancing but is struggling to secure well-paid work. “I just faced rejection from a third interview, one reason being my location in the Midlands, despite discussing my willingness to commute to London weekly. As a result, I’ve stopped mentioning the Midlands on my CV.”
I can imagine employers see this as a way of limiting the risk of lost work hours, but it is a prejudgment based on the location. Given that we know individuals from working class backgrounds are statistically less likely to relocate from their hometowns, it’s arguable that this kind of policy would have a worse effect on working class people.
One person who said “I have always had this sneaky feeling that my working class roots show” also said they were finding it difficult to secure full time work, despite experience. “In the past year I have had the chance to work on short term projects… when it came to having an interview for a longer term position, I wasn’t hired.” The job market is very competitive, and there’s no way to know if there was prejudice involved, but the fact the individual felt there might have been is of note.
When it comes to discrimination and recruitment laws, location and class aren’t protected characteristics, but it is something that some audio companies are considering more. Just this week, Persephonica announced that they have moved their offices to Sheffield, and Distorted, a company based in Leeds, are very proud of their Northern roots. Becky Lamb-Pritchard, Distorted’s Head of Marketing, told me “when the company was founded, we decided to base ourselves in Leeds, grounded in the principle that you shouldn’t have to move to London to work in the creative industries if you don’t want to. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Many Routes Are Through Higher Education
In terms of providing steps into audio work, university is one of the most established routes in. One person who filled in the survey even specified that “University is actually a really accessible step to getting into industry”. This is certainly a step that many people highlighted, with one linking it to the cultural capital as well: “I’ve got no money, and no actual capital and no property but I have acquired cultural capital through my education.”
However, there’s problems with the industry relying on higher education as the route in. The latest data on widening participation in higher education shows there are still big gaps when it comes to class (as well as region, race and gender). As pointed out in the gov.uk website ‘Employers’ toolkit’, if you are the first person in your family to go to university (one possible description of working class) there is still “an acute form of disadvantage and signals a lack of support to navigate university and entry into the graduate workforce”.
A Barrier To Belonging
There is one final point that I wanted to address in this article that I’m finding difficult to explain. We asked a very open question at the end of our survey asking people to leave an anonymous comment. It feels significant that without prompting several people brought up the idea of ‘luck’:
“It feels like I got in by accident…”
“I DID have some beginner’s luck…”
“I’m now lucky enough to be one of few with a good salary in a FT audio position…”
Perhaps it is the feeling of isolation, with less than 10% of professional creatives coming from similar backgrounds, that leads working class individuals to feel like something of an anomaly in audio. However, I’m sure that their determination and talent had more to do with their success than luck, and it’s time to celebrate and uplift them more.
Looking For Solutions
I’m aware that the past few articles have been somewhat disheartening, with a lot of problems and difficulties being highlighted. However, I have heard from people (including my boss and Founder of Content is Queen, Imriel Morgan) that it has at least given shape to some issues. Hopefully the articles so far have also given some solidarity for others who have been contemplating similar issues in isolation.
The good news is, the final article in this series is going to be looking at some possible solutions, and highlighting some places that are creating a different culture in audio and podcasting.
Further resources:
– The Creative Mentor Network supports 16-25 year olds from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to help them develop their creative careers through mentoring, education, and opportunities.
– Multitrack has a number of resources to help you step into audio, including starting to build some guides to help you understand the different roles in audio production.
– If you want to sound like a pro when you first start working in audio, I personally found Content is Queen’s worksheet on audio and radio terms very useful when I first started.
Read The Other Articles In This Series
How Is The Class Gap Affecting Working Class Professionals?
Is There A Brain Drain In Audio?