This article explores what it takes to advance to the top of an EU institution (European Economic and Social Committee). The article combines Bourdieu’s theories of field and capital with Weber’s theory of social closure to study the interplay between required forms of capital and closure practices during three ideal-typical phases of upward mobility: ‘getting in’, ‘fitting in’ and ‘moving on’. Drawing on 26 semi-structured interviews, the article finds that capital and closure are mutually interdependent as members’ access to capital to advance depends on whether they pass the closure tests deployed by closure agents and manage to get in, fit in and move on in the EU field. By combining capital and closure approaches, the article suggests a new balance between structure and actor-centred theories, which can help us better capture what is at stake in the EU field, and how the game of career advancement is played.

中文翻译：

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欧盟领域的资本和关闭。欧洲经济和社会委员会的进步

本文探讨了如何晋升到欧盟机构（欧洲经济和社会委员会）的高层。本文将布迪厄的场域和资本理论与韦伯的社会封闭理论相结合，研究在向上流动的三个理想典型阶段：“进入”、“适应”和“继续前进”期间，所需的资本形式与封闭实践之间的相互作用。 '。通过 26 次半结构化访谈，文章发现资本和封闭是相互依存的，因为成员获得资本推进的机会取决于他们是否通过封闭代理部署的封闭测试并设法进入、适应和继续前进欧盟领域。通过结合资本和封闭方法，本文提出了结构和以行为者为中心的理论之间的新平衡，