A class of its own? Social class and the Foreign Office, 1782 to 2020
This paper explores social class and the social composition of the Foreign Office as an institution during its history.
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This Occasional Paper reviews how concepts of social class can describe the social composition of the Foreign Office and its successor departments. Through national legislation and social reform, Foreign Office recruitment policies and culture evolved. There was particularly rapid and visible change to the diversity of its workforce during the 20th century.
The paper aims to open the debate on how the Foreign Office, and it’s successors, has changed as an organisation in reflecting the diversity of the nation. It looks forward to how the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office can further progress in order to benefit from the full potential of a socially diverse workforce.
It covers:
- defining class, drawing on staff surveys, civil service data, and nationally-used definitions
- types of ‘social capital’ for people working for the Foreign Office: economic (what we have), social (who we know) and cultural (what we know)
- the historical social origins of Foreign Office
- important milestones in reforming Civil Service recruitment
- recollections and stories from staff about their experiences at work