The making of an egalitarian elite: school ethos and the production of privilege

Research on privilege and education often focuses on institutions that are elite in a rather traditional way, for example schools that instruct the children of the upper classes according to a reproductive logic that reinforces existing inequalities. The present article addresses the fostering of advantage from the angle of a more ambiguous case. The Global College, a municipal Swedish upper secondary school specialized in environmental issues and global justice, offers an empirical prism for discussing the cultivation of elite identification through the formative potential of an egalitarian ethos. The relation between ethics and class is examined, not only in terms of how moral stands are classed, but also by investigating into the productive capacities of such orientation. Through extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the study unfolds how a possible tension between egalitarianism and elitism resolves into a productive relation whereby the students’ incarnation of ethico‐political ideals becomes a means for developing agency, confidence, entrepreneurial skills and an overall sense of ease.     

Circuits of architecture and urban planning: Professional ethos and the internationalization of small architectural offices

Although the production of the built environment is increasingly globalized, and architecture and urban planning (AUP) professionals are known to be the key carriers of mobile ideas, the internationalization of small owner-centred architectural offices has gained little academic attention, compared to the large consultancies that dominate the global market. We bring together the literature on the circuits of urban planning ideas, the international movement of AUP firms and professional ethoses to explore the internationalization of small AUP offices. Using interview data from Finnish offices, we investigate the ‘what, where, why and how’ and find that they have entered specific geographically delimited AUP circuits demarcated by type of project. We contribute to the literature by identifying motives characteristic of small offices guided by professional ethoses suited to the circuits where they internationalize. Their ethoses may evolve in time and space, as they operate in new circuits. We propose that ethos–circuit coherence may contribute to the successful internationalization of small architectural offices. The findings open avenues for further research on professional ethos not only of architects but also other internationally operating professionals, as it may guide their decisions by other than a narrowly conceived profit motive.