Universities and the contested creation of the elite

Yuchtman, Noam ORCID: 0009-0003-6501-9618 (2025) Universities and the contested creation of the elite. The Manchester School. ISSN 1463-6786 (In Press)

Text (Education and elites Manchester School March 2025) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (292kB)

Abstract

For centuries universities have been a locus of elite creation. In the Middle Ages, university trained elites were leaders of the Church, served in secular lords’ administrations, and staffed the judiciary. Over time, their scope has expanded to include leadership in governments, corporations, and civil society more broadly. Universities play two roles in the creation of the elite: selection and education. Both of these have historically been the subject of intense contestation, with the outcomes shaping a range of political and economic outcomes. In this piece, I synthesize work on educational institutions’ creation of the elite, discussing both historical and contemporary cases of contestation of this process and their outcomes. I close with a discussion of the implications for our understanding of university-based protest movements.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions J Political Science
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D74 - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education > I20 - General N - Economic History > N0 - General > N00 - General P - Economic Systems > P0 - General > P00 - General
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2025 11:51
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2025 12:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127495

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