ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the formation of class inequality in the classical music industry by drawing on qualitative data on the aspirations and pathways of young classical musicians from southeast England. It foregrounds class and explains gendered patterns through this lens. The chapter scrutinises the concept of class, then summarises research on class and classical music production before introducing the study from which data is drawn. It describes how classical music works as a form of uncertain capital among the study's young musicians, whose class and gender positions strongly influenced their choices about whether to enter the profession. The chapter draws on a broader tradition of thinking about class: focusing on the interplay of material and cultural aspects of social life to examine how identities formed around economic inequalities become "sedimented", being passed between generations through shared norms and cultural practices.
