From Elite School to Ruling Elite: The Narcissistic Economies of Elite Schools and the Production of Masculinities

Debbie Epstein, University of Roehampton

 

Seminar (málstofa) held by Nordic Center of Excellence Justice Through Education in the Nordic Countries and Research Center for Education Development at the University of Iceland (Norrænt öndvegisvegur í menntarannsóknum um réttlæti í menntun á Norðurlöndunum og Rannsóknarstofa um þróun skólastarfs)

 

Taking a psychoanalytic perspective, Professor Epstein argues that elite schools are themselves narcissistic institutions, grandiose in their claims and expressed opinions of themselves. She suggests that this is not only a necessary and major part of their marketing strategies, but also a reflection of how they actually think of themselves. Focusing particularly on the boys, she explores the ways in which they construct their own masculinities as 'the best of the best', echoing and reproducing the narcissism of the schools themselves. Since the governing elites of the countries in which the schools exist are often made up primarily of men educated at these schools, this gives rise to concern about what it means for the governance of societies, economies and cultures when the ruling economic, social and political elites - predominantly men - have developed the narcissistic character styles and versions of masculinity fostered by their schools.

 

This presentation draws on fieldwork from the Elite Schools in Globalizing Circumstances multi-sited ethnographic project (funded by the Australian Research Council)  and a reading of the websites of elite schools. This five year project, with a team of six researchers (Jane Kenway, Fazal Rizvi, Cameron McCarthy, Aaron Koh, Johannah Fahey and myself) is studying schools, founded at least 100 years ago and modelled on the British independent school, in Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Africa, and the UK, some of them for girls only, some coeducational and others for boys only.

 

Professor Debbie Epstein completed her Ph.D. in cultural studies from Birmingham University. Her research in gender studies and queer studies in education is world-known. Her books include Schooling Sexualities, Policing the Boundaries of Heterosexuality, Silenced Sexualities in Schools and Universities and Toward Equality: Gender and Sexuality in South African Schools in the Time of HIV and AIDS.  Before entering academia, Professor Epstein taught in a range of early years, primary and secondary schools and was an Adviser for Race Equality in Birmingham. Professor Epstein is now visiting Iceland in relation to the doctoral defence of Jón Ingvar Kjaran, a doctoral candidate at the School of Education, on whose committe she has served as well as to attend the Emerging Issues in Masculinity Research conference.