Speakers: Prof Sam Friedman and Prof Aaron Reeves, London School of Economics
Chair: Dr Alex Wood, Assistant Professor in Economic Sociology, University of Cambridge
Abstract:
Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts? In this talk, based on our new book Born to Rule, we comb through a trove of data in search of an answer, looking at the profiles, interests, and careers of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today.
At the heart of the study is the historical database of Who’s Who, but we also mined genealogical records, combed through probate data, and interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds and professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want. What we found is that there is less movement at the top than we think. Yes, there has been some progress on including women and Black and Asian Brits, but those born into the top 1% are almost just as likely to get into the elite today as they were 125 years ago.
What has changed is how elites present themselves. Today’s elite pedal hard to convince us they are perfectly ordinary – in the way they tell their back story, express their cultural taste, or articulate their meritocratic legitimacy. And this is logical; we show that there is a strong symbolic market for ordinariness among the British public.
Why should we care? Because the elites we have affect the politics we get. We show that the family you are born into, and the schools you attend, leave a profound mark on the exercise of power.
Speakers:
Sam Friedman is Professor of Sociology at LSE and co-author of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged, and author of Comedy and Distinction: the Cultural Currency of a ‘Good’ Sense of Humour. He is the co-editor of The British Journal of Sociology.
Aaron Reeves is Professor of Sociology at LSE. An award-winning sociologist who has conducted pioneering studies on health and social class, he is the co-editor of the British Journal of Sociology.
Access information: The seminar room is accessed via two flights of steps/a lift and then a further two flights of stairs accessed through a heavy set of doors. There is no step-free access. The lift is not accessible to wheelchair users, but may assist with other mobility issues. Please contact enquiries@sociology.cam.ac.uk with any questions.
