Skip to main content
  • 9 Accesses

Abstract

In Chapter 1 the arguments which have been used to link the possession of a public school education with the notion of privilege were rehearsed. In particular, the voluminous amount of data on élites and their education1 leaves no doubt that a strong and positive correlation exists between the two phenomena. It is the precise nature and extent of the privilege which is still open to debate and this will be discussed at points throughout the book. Whilst the schools as a social institution are symbolic of the values embedded in a class divided society, an obsession with privilege per se must not be allowed to preclude a more careful and detailed examination of the background of those currently ‘enjoying’ a public school education than has hitherto been undertaken. It is only through such an examination that one can begin to move towards a clearer delineation of the pattern and boundaries of the privilege which is conventionally associated with the public schools.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Who are the Parents?

  1. D. Boyd, Elites and Their Education (Slough: NFER, 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  2. J. Gathorne-Hardy, The Public School Phenomenon (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  3. T. Bamford, ‘Public Schools and Social Class 1801–1850’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 12 (1962), pp. 224–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. T. Bamford, The Rise of the Public Schools (London: Nelson, 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  5. G. Kalton, The Public Schools: a Factual Survey. (London: Longmans, 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  6. A.H. Halsey, A.F. Heath and J.M. Ridge, Origins and Destinations: Family, Class and Education in Modern Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980). These classes differ slightly from the top two classes in the Registrar-General’s Classification. The occupational titles in these classes and the differences are discussed in I. Reid, Social Class Differences in Britain (London: Grant McIntyre, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  7. G. Ingham, ‘Divisions within the dominant class and British “exceptionalism”’, in A. Giddens and G. Mackenzie (eds) Social Class and the Division of Labour (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  8. J. Scott, The Upper Classes Property and Privilege in Britain (London: Macmillan, 1982).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. A. Giddens, The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies, 2nd ed. (London: Hutchinson, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  10. F. Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order (London: Paladin, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  11. B. Jackson and D. Marsden, Education and the Working Class (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. Goldthorpe and C. Llewellyn, ‘Class Mobility in Britain: Three Theses Examined’, in J.H. Goldthorpe Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  13. J. Okley, ‘Privileged, schooled and finished. Boarding Education for Girls’, in S. Ardener (ed.), Defining Females (London: Croom Helm, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  14. A.H. Halsey, ‘Class Ridden Property’, in The Listener, 19 Jan. 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  15. For example, J. Fidler, The British Business Elite (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981). This study of the business élite failed to find a single woman director amongst the directors of the largest 188 wholly British owned firms.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Notably T. Nichols, Ownership, Control and Ideology (London: Allen & Unwin, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  17. C.D. Harbury and D.M. Hitchens, Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain (London: Allen & Unwin, 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  18. A. Sutherland, ‘The Taxation of Agricultural Wealth: Northfield and After’, in F. Field (ed.), The Wealth Report (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  19. R. Lambert, The Chance of a Lifetime? A Study of Boarding Education (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  20. G. Snow, The Public School in the New Age (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1959).

    Google Scholar 

  21. D. Smith, ‘Codes, Paradigms and Folk Norms: An Approach to Educational Change with Particular Reference to the Work of Basil Bernstein’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 10 (1976) pp. 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  22. A. Heath, ‘What Difference does the Old School Tie Make Now?’, New Society, vol. 56 (1981).

    Google Scholar 

  23. A.H. Halsey et al., Origins and Destinations: Family, Class and Education in Modern Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Copyright information

© 1985 Irene Fox

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fox, I. (1985). Who are the Parents?. In: Private Schools and Public Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07041-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics