Making and mapping Britain’s “new ordinary elite”

Cunningham, N.

Abstract

There has been a sharp intensification in public and academic interest in differing conceptions of an urban “elite” in recent times. However, the concept of social class in the construction and reproduction of urban elites has remained either an implied or unexplored concern. The purpose of this paper is to explore the empirical manifestations and methodological issues surrounding the definition of an elite which arose from the BBC's Great British Class Survey experiment. This paper builds on our commonplace understanding of an elite as economically distinct by focussing on their social resources and patterns of cultural consumption, based upon a Bourdieusian“capitals” approach to social class, and highlighting dimensions of this cadre which have hitherto received scant attention in recent public and academic debate.

Citation

Cunningham, N. (2019). Making and mapping Britain’s “new ordinary elite”. Urban Geography, 40(5), 604-626. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2017.1390721

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 4, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Oct 26, 2017
• Publication Date: 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 2, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 26, 2018
• Journal: Urban Geography
• Print ISSN: 0272-3638
• Electronic ISSN: 1938-2847
• Publisher: Bellweather Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 604-626
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2017.1390721