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 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?
Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman combed through a trove of data in search of an answer, scrutinizing the profiles, interests, and careers 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 and professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want.
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 thin-until now.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Thank God for Friedman and Reeves, sociologists at the LSE and Oxford University respectively, who run a superbly dispassionate scalpel through Britain's upper crust to expose the cultural interests, political views and social origins of the 21st-century elite...[they] tell a compelling story of cultural change...[this is] a book rich in insight, data and original thought. Connoisseurs of hypocrisy and self-delusion will find much to savour too. -- James Marriott * The Times * A very good new book...authors Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman...have done fascinating work on the family backgrounds of current cabinet and shadow cabinet members and arrived at some remarkable findings. -- John Harris * The Guardian * [Reeves and Friedman] describe how their country's elites have changed since the 19th century, becoming cleverer and better at presenting themselves as ordinary. The book, flush with research, including more than 200 interviews, is superb. * The Economist * Leaning on the historical database of Who's Who, the mining of genealogical records and probate data as well as interviews with more than 200 figures, ...[this book] is a rigorous and meticulously researched study of Britain's elite -- Chris Newlands * Financial Times * Through their analysis of schooling, hobbies and background from Who's Who, a questionnaire of several thousand of its living members, and deeper interviews with several hundred more, Friedman and Reeves have built up an impressive longitudinal study of the British upper crust...[this book] is an important attempt to take the measure of our new and evolved elite...the achievement of this fascinating book should be to spark a broader reconsideration of our new ruling caste. -- Nicholas Harris * New Statesman * Reeves and Friedman present...unarguable statistics, expertly packaged for dinner-table deployment...[this book] is ultra-quantitative yet admirably lucid. -- Pratinav Anil * Literary Review * A remarkable and timely contribution to our understanding of the British ruling class, showing the ways in which elite reproduction has changed (or not) in the past century, and the mechanisms that these elites use to legitimise their position...one of the most important contributions to date to the study of the British elite, and more than that - by virtue of its empirical design - to the broader research agenda of elite composition and reproduction. -- Berna Leon * London School of Economics Review of Books * Superb...Born to Rule...track[s] the pseudo-egalitarian drift of the modern establishment...Those in power have never been keener to signal their relatable, meritocratic credentials. -- James Marriott * The Times * [A] timely and important book. [Reeves and Friedman] sketch the political, cultural, and economic context for their subject with skill...The great strength of this book is the diversity of angles from which the authors come at their subject...[and] the achievement here is a uniquely textured and detailed deep dive into a sociologically concrete elite. -- Gordon Pentland * Australian Book Review * Pundits and politicians talk about 'elites' but rarely make a serious effort to say what or who they mean. What do we actually know about this mysterious species, other than that it flocks to cocktail parties? ...[This book] is an evidence-based answer to that question and a richly interesting one...[The authors] tell a fascinating story about how our elites have changed in composition, outlook, and interests - and in how they choose to present themselves to the world. -- Ian Leslie * The Ruffian * What on earth are you meant to do when analysing a known unknowable such as class? Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman have come up with an arresting solution to this conundrum, by crunching 125 years of that great Bible of British snobbery-Who's Who...[this book] is an exhilarating and revelatory picture of the British establishment...[the authors] prefer to prosecute a big argument-and hunt down every last scrap of data to test it and flesh it out. The result is a book that tells you something interesting on every page. -- Tom Clark * Prospect * In this impressive book, two sociologists explore the makeup of the British elite...Reeves and Friedman have collected and analysed a large body of data, which will be useful to a vast number of readers. -- Samuel Clark * History * It is the task of the social scientist to hold the taken-for-granted up so the light can shine through. And shine through it does in this remarkable and rigorous piece of analysis...[this] work is comprehensive, innovative (using experiments and scenarios in interviews) and way beyond what anyone might expect in terms of rigour and innovation...Reeves and Friedman are surely on to something. -- David McCrone * Bella Caledonia * A joy to read...an empirical gem. [This book] asks important questions and answers them with rigor and clarity. By painting such a clear, accessible, meticulous portrait of the British 'power elite,' Reeves and Friedman allow us to see beyond the smokescreen of elite meritocratic rhetoric to the cold reality of elite persistence. The distance between what elites say and where they came from is foundational to the myth of meritocracy everywhere. -- Shay O'Brien * ASA Sociology of Culture Newsletter * [This book] is that rarity, an academic blockbuster that is also a good read. Its appeal is partly in the subject matter: who gets to be Top...[the authors] have some interesting things to say about an inherently interesting subject, and some very interesting things to report about how they found out. -- Dean Ashenden * Inside Story * Impressive...Reeves and Friedman have collected and analysed a large body of data, which will be useful to a vast number of readers. -- Samuel Clark * History * Incorporates meticulous research in genealogical records, probate documents, databases, and more...this engaging book is a deep-dive analysis of the British elite. -- Lucy Heckman * Library Journal * "Likely to remain an important source of material for sociologists, political scientists and policy makers for a long time because of the intense analysis and insights into an important part of society. -- Robert Shiels * Scottish Legal News * Born to Rule is one of the most rigorous studies of elites ever written. The quantity and quality of data are breathtaking. Reeves and Friedman combine more than a century of historical records with contemporary interviews and surveys to show that while the self-conception of British elites has changed over time-from posh aristocrats to ordinary meritocrats-the pathways to elite status show remarkable stability, remaining strongly tied to family wealth and elite schooling. Born to Rule should be required reading for understanding social class and economic inequality in contemporary Britain. -- Lauren A. Rivera, author of <i>Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs</i> The age in which we live has elevated the idea of the 'elite' in the public imagination to new, contested, and controversial heights. With great cogency and urgency, Reeves and Friedman show that while the idea of an elite has ancient roots, modern Britain has given it a unique and peculiar twist. This powerful and timely book sizzles with erudition and fresh scholarship, and has profound implications not just for Britain, but for ailing and ageing democracies across the world. I hope that meritocrats and members of the elite alike pay heed to its argument, no matter how discomfiting they find it. In fact, I hope it makes them question who they are. -- Amol Rajan, BBC <i>Today</i> programme presenter Combining extraordinary data from Who's Who with extensive interviews, Born to Rule gives us the most comprehensive portrait of the British elite imaginable, making it possible to see how the ruling class has and has not changed in the last 125 years. This book displays the profound value of sociological analysis, allowing us to understand classic conversations in new ways. -- Shamus Khan, author of <i>Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School</i> Born to Rule is a smart and important book. The members of Who's Who the authors interviewed proclaimed it was 'complete rubbish' to regard them as members of the elite and insisted on their own merit. But Reeves and Friedman meticulously demonstrate a pattern of elite reproduction, family ties, and cascading advantages from wealth. Highly readable, and highly recommended! -- Annette Lareau, author of <i>Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life</i>
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 "Good" Sense of Humour. He is coeditor of the British Journal of Sociology.
