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Born to Rule
The Making and Remaking of the British Elite
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Brief Description
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...
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See moreThis data-rich sociological study uses everything from census figures to Whoβs Who to analyze how, over 125 years, the British elite have used status, elite education, and powerful social networks to shape politics and cultural values. But what happens when elites begin to changeβin what they look like, value, and how they position themselves?
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Description
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 and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts? In search of answers, Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman scrutinised the profiles of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today. At the heart of this meticulously researched study is the historical database of Who's Who, but Reeves and Friedman also mined genealogical records, examined probate data, and interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds to uncover who runs Britain.
What they 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 percent are 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.
Why should we care? Because the elites we have affect the politics we get. While scholars have long proposed that the family you are born into, and the schools you attend, leave a mark on the exercise of power, the empirical evidence has been thinβuntil now.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674304246
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 January 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Illustration: 58 illus., 3 tables
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 21.0mm
Width: 146.0mm
Height: 225.0mm
Weight: 378g
Pages: 328
About the Author
Aaron Reeves is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. An award-winning sociologist who has written extensively on social inequality, he is coeditor of the British Journal of Sociology. Sam Friedman is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the coauthor of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged and author of Comedy and Distinction: The Cultural Currency of a βGoodβ Sense of Humour. He is coeditor of the British Journal of Sociology.
Also by Aaron Reeves
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Born to Rule
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...Hardback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Also by Sam Friedman
View all-
Born to Rule
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...Hardback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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