The social origins and schooling of a scientific elite: Fellows of the royal society born from 1900.

ABSTRACT: We present an analysis of the social composition of the UK scientific elite, as represented by Fellows of the Royal Society, in terms of Fellows' social class origins and type of secondary schooling. From various sources, we have assembled data for 1691 Fellows, representing 80% of our target population of all Fellows born from 1900 onwards whose scientific careers were spent predominantly in the UK. We find that while these elite scientists come largely from more advantaged class backgrounds, it is professional rather than business or managerial families that are the main source of their recruitment-and, increasingly, such families where a parent is in a STEM occupation. Recruitment from working-class families has declined and for most recent birth cohorts almost ceased. The scientific el

SUBMITTER: Bukodi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9328133 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature