Accent Bias and Perceptions of Professional Competence in England

Unequal outcomes in professional hiring for individuals from less privileged backgrounds have been widely reported England. Although accent is one of the most salient signals such a background, its role unequal remains underexamined. This paper reports on large-scale study contemporary attitudes to accents A large representative sample ( N = 848) population England judged interview performance and perceived hirability “candidates” trainee solicitor position at corporate law firm. Candidates were native speakers five English stratified by region, ethnicity, class. The results suggest persistent patterns bias against certain England, particularly Southern working-class varieties, though moderated factors as listener age, content speech, listeners’ psychological predispositions. We discuss that observed may play perpetuating social inequality encourage further research relationship between mobility.