Elite universities aren’t hotbeds of ‘wokery’: our research shows they’re rife with racism and classism | Kalwant Bhopal and Martin Myers

In both the US and the UK, students described being told that they were beneficiaries of affirmative action

It has become common, in some circles, to view elite universities as places of left-leaning “wokery”. A recent Daily Mail article ranked higher education institutions according to their penchant for promoting a range of “politically correct” tropes – and placed Cambridge and Oxford in the top spots.

In talking to students in the UK and the US as part of our research for a new book, we found that this was a deliberate mirage. Beyond the culture wars caricature, universities such as Harvard and Yale, Oxford and Cambridge, remain highly conservative institutions that align with the interests of privileged groups to perpetuate existing power structures.

Kalwant Bhopal and Martin Myers are the authors of Elite Universities and the Making of Privilege: Exploring Race and Class in Global Educational Economies

Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.