Mapping the elite in Chilean universities: a quantitativemultidimensional analysis

Abstract

One of the most important mechanisms of (re) production of the elites is still education and, specifically, higher education. This article seeks to map the elites in the Chilean university field, identifying the main undergraduates programmes and universities where this group is concentrated and, furthermore, typifying how these institutions promote (or not) processes of mobility and reproduction of the elites. Through a diversified statistical analysis, it is concluded that the academic and social elites are mainly concentrated
in two select groups: a few traditional institutions, with high prestige and a high level of selectivity; and in new institutions, privates and focused on capturing the country’s social high class. Additionally, the results show that the Chilean education system promotes low levels of social mobility of the elite, structured in a system that allows to perpetuate the reproduction processes of this group.