Elite recruitment and training in higher education

In contemporary societies, the weight of knowledge, of specialist knowledge in particular, as attested by educational qualification, is becoming the basic element in processes of access to legitimated power. The essay presents a comparative-theoretical model to define the specific contribution of higher education to recruitment and integration of dominant social groups, focusing on different strategies used by privileged social strata for social reproduction and social closure via education. In the first part a combined reconsideration of most relevant sociological contribution is proposed: the ideal-typical approach of Max Weber on the relationship between power and education; the typological dualism of Ralph Turner on selective and competitive educational systems as socially accepted form of social mobility and legitimation of the access to elite positions in democratic societies; the analytical perspective of Randall Collins on the meaning of educational credentials as factors of both social recognition and legitimation of high level positions; and Raymond Boudon’s conceptual distinction of the degree of horizontal and vertical differentiation as a way to a tool for comparing modern educational systems of higher education . This combination allows us to observe that today’s ruling elites of democratic societies are oriented, more than in the past, to turn to higher education as a formal, even if not unique, criterion for elite recruitment and training, and that this criterion is widely accepted and legitimated. In the second section, the classical British and French systems of selection and training of ruling class are examined and compared as empirical models. The conclusion is that, in line with Bourdieu’s thesis, one can say that in elite education the use of high levels of cultural capital (be it in incorporated, objectivated or institutionalized form), are big weapons in the struggle for distinction and power in the social world.