Social class background, disjoint agency, and hiring decisions

•Individuals from working-class backgrounds exhibited less disjoint agency (e.g., less assertiveness) in mock job interviews, as compared to upper-class individuals.•A panel of hiring managers judged individuals from working-class backgrounds as less worthy of hire, due to those individuals’ lack of disjoint agency.•Observers viewed working-class individuals as less intelligent and socio-emotionally skilled, even though those individuals were as intelligent and more socio-emotionally skilled than their upper-class counterparts.•When evaluators placed more value on cooperation and teamwork, they viewed individuals from working-class backgrounds less harshly.