Sam Friedman

The Economist, Best Books of 2024 The Times, Best Ideas Books of 2024 A uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate. Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to...

The Economist, Best Books of 2024 The Times, Best Ideas Books of 2024 A uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate. Are Britain's power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege...

The hidden barriers, or 'glass ceilings', preventing women and minority ethnic groups from getting to the top are well documented. Yet questions of social class—and specifically class origin—have been curiously absent from these debates. In this book, Friedman and Laurison argue that there is also a powerful 'class ceiling' at play in elite occupations. Drawing on analysis of the UK,...