This splits off the first issue of #15475 (which has already been reviewed by Darij). This will also address the issues noted on https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sage-devel/rXobHQXrCck.
CC: @darijgr
Component: coercion
Keywords: symmetric group algebra, descent algebra
Author: Travis Scrimshaw
Branch: d8ea764
Reviewer: Darij Grinberg
Issue created by migration from https://trac.sagemath.org/ticket/16678