Trajectories of young people who have attended international elite schools

The role of elite education tracks in reproducing the position of socially dominant groups has already been relatively well documented, at least in the Global North. Less well understood are the trajectories pursued by young people from elite families in the Global South, especially when they leave their national education system. How does their financial capital, the international credentials they secure, their racial and cultural backgrounds, and the parental aspirations which sent them abroad in the first place – intersect.

Longitudinal research on this question is missing, something I have been working on.

My colleague Dr. Karen Lillie and I are currently writing a book for Princeton University Press on this topic, due for publication in 2027. In August 2024 we wrote an article on this research for The Conversation, which proved popular and has been read over 150,000 times.

Recent publications include:

Lillie, K. & Maxwell, C. (2024) 'Who are the global super-rich of tomorrow?', The Conversation (28 Aug)

Maxwell, C. & Lillie, K. (2024) From a national elite to the global elite: Possibilities and problems in scaling up, British Journal of Sociology, online 26 June. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-4446.13129

Lillie, K. & Maxwell, C. (2024) Practices of Consumption: Cohesion and Distinction within a Globally Wealthy Group, Sociology, 58(3): 535-773. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00380385231206070

Papers are free to download; but you can also email me for copies.