
An Elite Education
How Privilege Is Produced in a Private School
Emma Taylor(Author)
Princeton University Press
Will be published approx. on 26. May 2026
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-691-26425-7 (ISBN)
Description
An examination of the making of privilege at one of Britain's top boys' schools
Alumni of Britain's elite schools are consistently overrepresented in positions of power and influence. It is no surprise, then, that elite schools play a pivotal role in reproducing inequality. In An Elite Education, Emma Taylor draws on years of immersive ethnographic research and teaching experience at one of Britain's leading private boys' schools to highlight how these institutions cultivate the dispositions that propel students into elite universities and professions.
Taylor finds that elite schools provide a forgiving, flexible and exclusive training ground, enabling students to push boundaries, bend rules and negotiate with those in authority. She argues that this ability to navigate elite spaces with confidence-which she conceptualises as "audacity"-is a carefully cultivated form of privilege that is frequently mistaken for merit. Behind the formal facade of architecture, traditions and rituals lies a messy web of everyday interactions through which students learn to assert themselves without fear of consequence.
An Elite Education ultimately calls for a deeper interrogation of the taken-for-granted dispositions that continue to shape access to opportunity in Britain.
Alumni of Britain's elite schools are consistently overrepresented in positions of power and influence. It is no surprise, then, that elite schools play a pivotal role in reproducing inequality. In An Elite Education, Emma Taylor draws on years of immersive ethnographic research and teaching experience at one of Britain's leading private boys' schools to highlight how these institutions cultivate the dispositions that propel students into elite universities and professions.
Taylor finds that elite schools provide a forgiving, flexible and exclusive training ground, enabling students to push boundaries, bend rules and negotiate with those in authority. She argues that this ability to navigate elite spaces with confidence-which she conceptualises as "audacity"-is a carefully cultivated form of privilege that is frequently mistaken for merit. Behind the formal facade of architecture, traditions and rituals lies a messy web of everyday interactions through which students learn to assert themselves without fear of consequence.
An Elite Education ultimately calls for a deeper interrogation of the taken-for-granted dispositions that continue to shape access to opportunity in Britain.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
1 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-691-26425-7 (9780691264257)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2026
Manchester University Press
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Emma Taylor is lecturer in education at King's College London.