Erotic Capital by Catherine Hakim

Author:Catherine Hakim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2011-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Winner Takes All: The Business Value of Erotic Capital

It is easy to see how physical and social attractiveness can be an asset for media stars, in the entertainment and hospitality industries, or in the service sector more generally. Erotic capital could seem irrelevant for jobs in management or the professions. People at these senior levels are recruited for their expertise, knowledge, and experience—demonstrable attributes in specialist fields. Yet even in these rarefied upper echelons of the occupational structure, appearance and social manners can make a difference. Similarly, there is a general beauty premium across the whole workforce. Unfortunately, sex discrimination is very visible here. Despite the fact that women are generally assessed as better-looking and more attractive than men, the earnings markup is lower for women. Time after time, studies of hiring, recruitment, and promotion decisions in the Western world reveal far more ambivalence about women’s attractiveness than about men’s, and the financial rewards for attractiveness are substantially higher for men than for women. This is a new field of hidden sex discrimination.

The economic returns to erotic capital can be compared with the equally remarkable returns to being tall. The career benefits of being tall (for men especially) are not challenged, yet the beauty premium is often questioned as unfair or discriminatory, at least in Anglo-Saxon countries, and especially for women. This inconsistency in attitudes reveals yet more sex discrimination. I would expect the beauty premium to be larger in countries that do not share this ambivalence about whether erotic capital has value.

In the entertainment industry, the return to erotic capital derives primarily from the more physical elements: beauty and sex appeal, and in some cases sexuality as well. In the ordinary labor market, the social aspects of erotic capital are most valuable: skills of self-presentation and dress, social skills and persuasiveness, fitness and social liveliness. Overt displays of sex appeal can be severely penalized as inappropriate in these contexts, especially for women.

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