THE SOCIAL ORIGINS AND SCHOOLING OF A SCIENTIFIC ELITE: FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY BORN FROM 1900
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 education. 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 elite is thus now more homogenous as regards the social origins of its members than it was in the second half of the twentieth century. At the same time, little change is evident in the secondary schooling of Fellows. In all birth cohorts, between two-fifths and a half of all – and over two-thirds of those from more advantaged class backgrounds – were privately educated, although the proportion attending Clarendon schools would seem low compared with that in other elites. A further finding is that both class origins and type of schooling are associated the relative probabilities of Fellows working in different research fields.