The mythical figure of the public-school ‘Old Boy’ has long had a hold on the British cultural imagination. But, as Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman explain, alumni of elite schools continue to enjoy very real advantages in reaching the elite

Friedman, Sam

Reeves, Aaron

LSE Research Online

The	dogged	persistence	of	the	British	‘old	boy’:	howprivate	school	alumni	reach	the	eliteThe	mythical	figure	of	the	public-school	‘Old	Boy’	has	long	had	a	hold	on	theBritish	cultural	imagination.	But,	as	Aaron	Reeves	and	Sam	Friedman	explain,alumni	of	elite	schools	continue	to	enjoy	very	real	advantages	in	reaching	the	elite.Of	the	fifty-four	Prime	Ministers	elected	to	office	in	Great	Britain,	a	staggeringthirty-six	(67%)	were	educated	at	one	of	just	nine	elite	schools.	This	small	group	of‘Clarendon	Schools’	–	consecrated	as	the	‘Great	Schools’	by	the	government-initiated	Clarendon	Commission	in1861	–	carry	a	remarkable	historical	legacy	for	incubating	future	leaders.	In	the	19th	and	early	20th	centuries,	theywere	widely	considered	‘the	chief	nurseries’	of	the	British	elite,	defining	institutions	that	prepared	alumni	to	takeup	positions	of	power	across	politics,	law,	media,	culture,	and	the	military.Today,	the	distinct	characteristics	of	these	schools	–	classical	academic	curricula,	distinct	extra-curricularactivities,	and	a	boarding	school	structure	–	remain	largely	unchanged	and	their	alumni	continue	to	exert	aprofound	influence.	For	instance,	the	two	key	politicians	on	either	side	of	the	“Brexit”	debate	–	David	Cameronand	Boris	Johnson	–	both	attended	the	most	prestigious	Clarendon	school,	Eton	College.Yet	although	these	schools	continue	to	confer	advantage,	the	degree	to	which	they	are	able	to	propel	their	“oldboys”	into	elite	destinations,	and	how	this	has	changed	over	time,	is	largely	unknown.	The	kind	of	data	needed	toanswer	this	kind	of	question	simply	has	not	been	available	in	Britain.The	extraordinary	dataset	we	draw	on	in	a	recent	paper	–	120	years	of	biographical	data	contained	within	Who’sWho,	an	unrivalled	catalogue	of	the	British	elite	–	therefore	provides	a	unique	opportunity.	Specifically,	it	allowsus	to	explore,	for	the	first	time,	the	changing	relationship	between	Britain’s	elite	schools	and	recruitment	to	themost	powerful	elite	positions	in	British	society.We	argue	that	Who’s	Who	represents	a	useful	measure	of	the	elite	because,	unlike	definitions	such	as	the	1%	orthe	super-rich,	it	incorporates	those	whose	power	and	influence	is	not	always	or	only	economic.	Primarily	itdocuments	a	positional	elite;	50%	of	entrants	are	included	automatically	upon	reaching	a	prominent	occupationalposition.	For	example,	MPs,	Judges	and	FTSE100	CEOs	are	all	included	by	virtue	of	their	office.	The	rest	areselected	by	a	board	of	long-standing	advisors	based	on	a	noteworthy	professional	appointment	or	sustainedprestige,	influence	or	fame.	While	this	process	is	somewhat	shadowy	and	has	its	limitations,	crucially	it	is	notinfluenced	by	politicking	and	entries	cannot	be	purchased.British Politics and Policy at LSE: The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy’: how private school alumni reach the elite Page 1 of 5		Date originally posted: 2017-10-31Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-dogged-persistence-of-the-old-boy/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/If	we	look	at	the	educational	origins	of	those	in	Who’s	Who	–	looking	at	people	born	in	particular	years,	e.g.,1840-1844	–	then	we	see	a	striking	pattern.	In	Figure	1	we	plot	the	proportion	of	entrants	in	each	birth	cohort	whoreport	attending	Clarendon,	HMC	(private	schools	in	the	prestigious	Headmasters’	and	Headmistresses’Conference),	private	(all	independent	schools),	or	all	other	schools	(reported	schools	not	included	elsewhere).There	is	a	clear	downward	trend	over	this	period	in	the	proportion	of	Who’s	Who	entrants	who	have	attended	aClarendon	school.	Among	those	born	in	the	1840s,	approximately	20%	had	attended	one	of	these	nine	schools,whereas	the	figure	has	dropped	to	8%	among	the	most	recent	birth	cohort.But	this	tells	us	little	about	the	relative	advantage	enjoyed	by	‘old	boys’.	To	examine	this,	we	comparedClarendon	alumni	to	everyone	else	born	in	the	same	birth	cohort.	Among	people	born	between	1845	and	1849,for	example,	someone	attending	a	Clarendon	school	was	approximately	274	times	more	likely	to	end	up	in	Who’sWho	than	someone	born	in	the	same	year	who	did	not	attend	one	of	these	nine	schools.	If	we	move	forward	toour	last	cohort	(those	born	between	1965	and	1969),	we	see	a	significant	decline:	someone	born	in	1967	whoattended	a	Clarendon	school	is	approximately	67	times	more	likely	to	end	up	in	Who’s	Who.What	might	explain	this	substantial	decline?	Changes	in	occupational	structure	may	have	played	a	role.	Forexample,	both	military	and	religious	elites	had	well-established	and	long-standing	connections	with	Clarendonschools	and	so	the	decline	of	the	British	Empire	combined	with	the	secularization	of	British	society	may	havereduced	the	proportion	of	Clarendon	school	alumni,	simply	because	fewer	‘old	boys’	could	utilize	this	route	intothe	elite.Another	possible	explanation	is	the	number	of	women	included	in	Who’s	Who.	During	this	period,	the	Clarendonschools	remained	male-only	and	so	increases	in	the	number	of	female	in	Who’s	Who	may	thus	reflect	animportant	increase	in	the	competition	faced	by	Clarendon	alumni.Both	changes	to	the	occupation	structure	and	the	shifting	role	of	women	in	British	society	seem	to	play	some	rolein	the	decline	of	the	Clarendon	schools.	But,	as	our	paper	details,	their	impact	seems	to	have	been	quite	modest.British Politics and Policy at LSE: The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy’: how private school alumni reach the elite Page 2 of 5		Date originally posted: 2017-10-31Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-dogged-persistence-of-the-old-boy/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/Another	potential	driver	may	be	the	combined	effect	of	Britain’s	educational	reforms.	Over	the	past	140	years,	thestructure	of	the	British	education	system	has	shifted	significantly	from	a	voluntary	system	combining	fees	andcharitable	institutions	to	a	compulsory	system	that	is	largely	state-funded	with	a	small	fee-paying	sector.	Thistransition	began	in	earnest	with	the	1890	Elementary	Education	Act,	which	reduced	fees	for	state	elementaryschools,	and	was	extended	under	the	Fisher	Act	of	1918	and	then	the	Education	Act	of	1944,	which	raised	thecompulsory	school	leaving	age	to	15	(later	16)	and	abolished	all	fees.	These	reforms,	combined	with	changesthat	standardised	credentials	across	schools,	may	have	hampered	the	ability	of	‘old	boys’	to	trade	off	the	name	oftheir	school	in	the	same	way	as	they	may	have	in	the	past.To	examine	this	hypothesis	we	look	at	whether	the	cohorts	born	before	these	reforms	experience	a	greaterlikelihood	of	being	included	in	Who’s	Who	than	those	born	after	their	implementation.	Figure	2	shows	our	resultsfor	the	Clarendon	schools.	The	shaded	areas	represent	those	cohorts	affected	by	the	introduction	of	the	reformsand	the	vertical	red	lines	detail	the	estimated	structural	breaks	we	observe	in	the	power	of	Clarendon	schools(see	full	paper	for	more	on	methodology).	Significantly,	we	see	clear	declines	in	the	propulsive	power	of	theClarendon	schools	occurring	right	after	the	introduction	of	the	1890	Elementary	Education	Act,	the	Fisher	Act	of1918,	and	the	Education	Act	of	1944.So	far	our	results	point	toward	a	significant	decline	in	the	reproductive	power	of	Britain’s	elite	schools	over	time,and	a	concomitant	opening	up	in	terms	of	the	composition	of	the	British	elite.	Yet	it	is	important	to	stress	that	thisdecline	must	be	viewed	in	a	wider	context	of	persistence	rather	than	cessation.	Even	at	their	lowest	ebb,	ninesmall	Clarendon	schools	(representing	less	than	1	in	every	500	pupils)	still	produced	nearly	1	in	10	of	all	Who’sWho	entrants.The	persistence	story	is	further	supported	by	Figure	3,	which	examines	the	educational	background	of	individualsadded	to	Who’s	Who	since	2001.	It	shows	that,	over	the	past	16	years,	the	proportion	of	new	entrants	from	theseelite	schools	has	remained	relatively	constant.	The	decline	in	the	reproductive	power	of	elite	schools,	then,	haslargely	stalled.British Politics and Policy at LSE: The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy’: how private school alumni reach the elite Page 3 of 5		Date originally posted: 2017-10-31Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-dogged-persistence-of-the-old-boy/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/Finally,	it	is	important	to	contextualize	the	profound	relative	advantage	still	enjoyed	by	Clarendon	‘old	boys’.Within	the	current	edition	of	Who’s	Who	–	which	naturally	combines	a	range	of	birth	cohorts	–	9%	of	entrantsattended	a	Clarendon	school,	and	32%	attended	one	of	the	other	HMC	schools.	This	remains	a	large,	evengross,	overrepresentation;	Clarendon	alumni	are	94	times	more	likely	to	be	a	member	of	the	British	elite.	Evenalumni	of	the	other	HMC	schools	–	our	weaker	definition	of	elite	schooling	–	are	35	times	more	likely	to	be	amember	of	Who’s	Who.What	this	illustrates,	we	think,	is	that	the	power	of	elite	schools	clearly	lies	beyond	simple	academic	excellence.These	schools	do	not	just	prime	‘old	boys’	to	achieve	credentials;	they	also	likely	endow	them	with	a	particularway	of	being	in	the	world	that	signals	elite	male	status	to	others.	This	may	no	longer	resemble	the	antiquatedembodied	style	of	the	British	Gentleman.	But,	as	others	have	suggested,	may	manifest	in	broader	(yet	similarlygendered)	dispositions	of	self-presentational	polish	that	have	currency	across	a	range	of	settings.This	polish	is	enacted	in	particular	ways	of	speaking	and	dressing	but	also	in	more	diffuse	“ways	of	knowing”;	it	is“not	what	you	learn	in	classes	but	how	you	know	it,”	as	elite	education	scholar	Shamus	Khan	has	argued.	Andthese	schools	continue	to	nurture	valuable	extracurricular	interests,	particularly	in	terms	of	sport,	culturalparticipation,	and	taste.	Of	course	these	dispositions	and	practices	do	not	necessarily	guarantee	entrance	to	theelite,	but	they	may	be	key	ingredients	in	understanding	the	continuing,	dogged	persistence	of	the	British	‘old	boy’.__________Note:	This	draws	on	a	co-authored	article,	published	in	the	American	Sociological	Review.	An	open	accessversion	of	the	paper	is	also	available	here.About	the	AuthorsAaron	Reeves	is	Associate	Professorial	Research	Fellow	in	Poverty	and	Inequality	in	theInternational	Inequalities	Institute	at	the	LSE.		British Politics and Policy at LSE: The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy’: how private school alumni reach the elite Page 4 of 5		Date originally posted: 2017-10-31Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-dogged-persistence-of-the-old-boy/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/Sam	Friedman	is	Associate	Professor	in	Sociology	at	the	LSE.			All	articles	posted	on	this	blog	give	the	views	of	the	author(s),	and	not	the	position	of	LSE	British	Politics	andPolicy,	nor	of	the	London	School	of	Economics	and	Political	Science.British Politics and Policy at LSE: The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy’: how private school alumni reach the elite Page 5 of 5		Date originally posted: 2017-10-31Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-dogged-persistence-of-the-old-boy/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/

The dogged persistence of the British 'old boy': how private school alumni reach the elite

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