Structuring Elite Power: The Role of Formal and Informal Education

D. Michael Lindsay

This study examines the importance of formal schooling and informal education in the lives of American elites—the few thousand Americans who make decisions that shape the lives of 300 million people. The project combines the collection of a quantitative dataset on the educational profiles of senior governmental, business, and nonprofit leaders with in-depth interviews where the roles of mentors, formal schooling, and continuing professional education will be examined more fully. Additional analyses will consider how formal and informal education have contributed to elite mobility and influence in various sectors of society. The proposed project will advance our understanding in three interrelated ways. First, it will collect and analyze the most current and extensive dataset yet of American elites (N≈3000), which will allow us to move beyond the current standoff between the monolithic theory of social power, with its image of elites united by education for a cohesive agenda, and the pluralist theory, which regards elites as divided demographically and more open to aspirants because of an educational meritocracy. Second, it will improve the empirical measurement of elite mobility, activity, and influence by coupling information from this dataset with data from in-depth interviews conducted with a sample of the studied individuals (N=75). This will allow us to settle this debate using data—for the first time in a generation— that combines quantitative rigor with qualitative texture. Third, it will lay the groundwork for a larger inquiry on elite networks, upbringing, and motivations, which seeks to revitalize the scientific study of America’s most powerful few.

About D. Michael Lindsay

D. Michael Lindsay is a sociologist whose work focuses on leadership and culture. In 2006, he joined the faculty of Rice University where he is also the faculty associate of Leadership Rice and associate director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life. He is also a Rice Scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. His work has been published in the leading scholarly journals of three academic fields—sociology, religion, and American studies—and in 2006 at the World Congress of Sociology, he was honored in a worldwide competition as the most promising sociologist under age 35. Dr. Lindsay is the author of the Pulitzer-nominated book, Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite (Oxford, 2007). Publishers Weekly named it one of the “Best Books of 2007,” and it was named 2008 Outstanding Book by the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action. Dr. Lindsay earned his doctorate in sociology from Princeton University where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow and the Harold W. Dodds Fellow. Prior to pursuing a doctoral degree, Dr. Lindsay served as the consultant for religion and culture at The George H. Gallup International Institute. He also holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Oxford. He and his wife, Rebecca, were both Phi Beta Kappa graduates of Baylor University. They are the proud parents of Elizabeth, and they presently reside in Houston, Texas.