Agency, Power, and Privilege in a Mass University System. An Analysis about the (Re) production of Political and Intellectual Elites in Chile

Abstract

The article analyzes how members of the Chilean elites have mobilized their experience through the university to (re)produce their position of privilege. Based on an approach that stresses the agency of the actors in the process of social (re)production, we conducted six biographical interviews with members of the political-intellectual elite, alumni of Economics, Law, and Civil Engineering at the two most prestigious Chilean universities. The results show that these universities are configurated as spaces that allow subjects to activate knowledge and networks that are key to reach their current positions of political-intellectual decisions. This activation of privilege occurs through socially expectable educational trajectories, the development of relevant social relations, the openness to the social diversity that the university space provides, and the cosmopolitan experiences promoted in these elite universities. In this fashion, this paper contributes to the study of the university elite, emphasizing the agency of the actors in the process of social (re)production.