ABSTRACT
Economic historians are constitutionally averse to the view that national culture can have a pervasive and longrun effect on economic performance, though much empirical work in the subject points in that direction. This chapter argues that a more systematic approach to measuring the role of cultural factors is both desirable and possible. Many commentators have remarked on the unusually strong anti-industrial, anti-enterprise, or anti-business strands in British culture. The natives were extremely agitated by this timely contribution to the debate on the British disease, but deeply divided in their reaction. The oldest stereotype is part of the general left-wing critique of the British Establishment. One area of plentiful information is businessmen’s educational backgrounds: in Britain’s ‘old school tie’ society, establishment figures are rarely reticent about their school, and social commentators. Countless surveys of the social and educational origins of businessmen have shown the disproportionate representation of public school boys in senior management positions in industry.
