Geographies of wealth: the materiality of an elite school in Switzerland

Abstract

Elite schools, long tasked with creating a future national elite, often now find themselves competing in a global education market. This article explores how one such school, in Switzerland, articulates with the global imaginary of its local geography–in particular, with images of luxury tourism and safety–to appeal to a globally wealthy clientele. It unpacks the material benefits derived from this articulation, for both the institution itself and the individuals who attend it. The school, I argue, fostered a ‘club effect’ that enhanced the social and symbolic capital of (most of) its students, brought into relief by the scholarship students who were excluded from it. This article thus explores what kind of work is being done when a particular vision–that of wealth–is attached to a school, and for whom that work is done. It closes by pointing to ways in which this educational landscape is shifting.