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Therapy Culture for the Business Class: Exploring How CEO Peer Groups Make and Legitimate Elite Cohesion
1School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
The British Journal of Sociology
|October 23, 2025
Summary
Wealthy elites use social processes like homophily and structured reciprocity to maintain cohesion within exclusive groups. This study examines how these exclusive organizations, particularly CEO peer groups, influence social inequalities and class formation.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Social Stratification
- Economic Sociology
Background:
- Growing economic inequality and wealth concentration necessitate understanding elite social processes.
- Exclusive organizations play a role in maintaining elite cohesion and influencing social inequalities.
- The impact of elite social dynamics on resource and opportunity access for the general population requires examination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the social processes that foster and legitimize cohesion among wealthy business elites.
- To investigate the role of exclusive organizations, specifically CEO peer groups, in maintaining elite cohesion.
- To explore the upward diffusion of "therapy culture" within the executive and owning classes.
Main Methods:
- Drawing on 41 semi-structured interviews with wealthy business class members in Manchester, UK.
- Analyzing the roles of homophily, structured reciprocity, and therapeutic cultural resources in elite cohesion.
- Focusing on CEO peer group members (21 participants) as a key site of analysis.
Main Results:
- Homophily, structured reciprocity, and therapeutic cultural resources contribute to elite cohesion.
- CEO peer groups facilitate the adoption of "therapy culture" among the executive and owning classes.
- Instances of cohesion failure within these elite groups were also identified.
Conclusions:
- CEO peer groups offer a valuable lens for understanding contemporary UK business class formation.
- These findings have broader implications for understanding elite class formation globally.
- Elite cohesion mechanisms contribute to and potentially exacerbate social inequalities.
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