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Elite Schooling and Social Inequality pp 125–155Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Construction of a Collective Identity

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Abstract

This chapter explores the construction of collective identities in elite schools. It examines how elite schools encourage bonding and collectivism on a daily basis. Through their practices, including team sports and charity work, they give students a strong sense of mutual loyalty, cohesiveness and social boundaries. Collective identities are constructed in opposition to the social ‘other’, who is excluded and treated as morally and intellectually inferior. Collectivism and exclusionary practices are prolonged in adult life, translating into a propensity to associate, socialize and marry within the same circles. Elite schools foster and legitimate exclusionary behaviors and help reinforce class boundaries.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Several interviewees had witnessed or undergone various forms of mild bullying. We can speculate that principals’ determination to tackle bullying is a recent phenomenon, as bullying and its impact only recently became a key focus of educational research.

  2. 2.

    In 2000, former students of Blackrock College were involved in a case of manslaughter, which became known as the Annabel Case, from the name of a local nightclub. They allegedly turned to the principal of Blackrock for advice before informing the police of the situation.

  3. 3.

    To Pinçon and Pinçon-Charlot, fear of improper alliances is what motivates upper-class parents to choose private education for their children, in particular when they become teenagers. Baltzell (1966), Mills (1956) and other elite researchers view kinship ties as an important factor in elite cohesiveness.

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  1. University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Aline Courtois

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  1. Aline Courtois
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Courtois, A. (2018). The Construction of a Collective Identity. In: Elite Schooling and Social Inequality. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52277-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52277-1_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52276-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52277-1

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