"A fresh and interesting collection that contains a number of pieces by talented young scholars....highly recommended."—Annette Lareau, Stanley I. Sheerr Professor, University of Pennsylvania
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The gaze of educational researchers has traditionally been turned "down" toward the experiences of communities deemed at-risk, presumably with the purpose of improving their plight. Indeed, theorizing about the relationship between education, culture, and society has typically emerged from the study of poor and marginalized groups in public schools. Seldom have educational researchers considered class privilege and educational advantage in their attempts at understanding inequality and fomenting social justice.

This collection of groundbreaking studies breaks with this tradition by shifting the gaze of inquiry "up," toward the experiences of privilege in educational environments characterized by wealth and the abundance of material resources. This edited volume brings together established and emerging scholars in education and the social sciences working critically to interrogate a diversity of educational environments serving the interests of influential groups both within and beyond schools. The authors investigate the power relations that underlie various contexts of class privilege. They shed light into the ways in which the success of a few relates to the failure of many.

This volume

-explores a variety of topics related to elite educational environments in multiple and diverse educational contexts, including but not limited to K–12 schools.

-points toward a view of elite education that is not constrained within the borders of school walls.

-offers new perspectives for thinking and talking about the complexities of social class, elite education, and privilege. -The book draws attention to the continued significance of class as a critical dimension of inequality in the U.S.

-includes contributing authors with well-established and readily recognized names as well as emerging scholars who study elitesin the fields of education and sociology.

-is the only comprehensive book on the study of elite education.

List of Contributors
Beth Cooper Benjamin, Peter W. Cookson Jr., Raygine DiAquoi, Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Adam Howard, Shamus Rahman Khan, Peter Kuriloff, June Newman-Graham, Sharon Ravitch, Michael Reichert, Joseph A. Soares, Brett Stoudt, Jenny M. Stuber

About the Editors
Adam Howard is an associate professor of education at Colby College. He is author of Learning Privilege: Lessons of Power and Identity in Affluent Schooling.

Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He is author of The Best of the Best: Becoming Elite at an American Boarding School.

Content:
Introduction: why study up? / Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández and Adam Howard --
Preparing for power: twenty-five years later / Peter W. Cookson Jr. and Caroline Hodges Persell --
Educating for hegemony-researching for change: collaborating with teachers and students to examine bullying at an elite private school / Brett G. Stoudt... [et al.] --
A part and apart: students of color negotiating boundaries at an elite boarding school / Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández and Raygine DiAquoi --
Stepping outside class: affluent students resisting privilege / Adam Howard --
Getting in: how elite schools play the college game / Shamus Rahman Kahn --
The effects of parents' college tier on their offspring's educational attainments / Joseph Soares --
Class dismissed?: the social-class worldviews of privileged college students / Jenny M. Stuber --
Pageantry, pedagogy, and Pandorea: literacies of the Southern belle / June Newman-Graham --
On not seeming like you want anything: privileged girls' dilemmas of ambition and selflessness / Beth Cooper Benjamin --
Conclusion: outlining a research agenda on elite education / Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández and Adam Howard.