Creating and upholding an elite community: ‘Consecrating exclusion’ in Djursholm, Sweden

Mikael Holmqvist

doi:10.1177/0038026121991786

Abstract

This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities. Through the notion of ‘consecrating exclusion’, I explore how Sweden’s foremost elite community Djursholm was founded in 1889, and how its aura and character as an exclusive neighbourhood are maintained today. Data come from historical material and a five-year ethnographic study consisting of field observations, interviews and archival material. I analyse how Djursholm was created as a sanctuary for the economic elite in Sweden and that its foremost purpose has been to socially elevate its residents, making them appear honourable and morally superior. I report how the community has defended its borders by various practices of exclusion, and how Djursholm aims to present itself as a role-model, a ‘shining city upon a hill’ which is critical to its social standing and status. The study contributes to the sociology of elites in three ways: (a) theoretically through the notion of ‘consecrating exclusion’, by synthesizing ideas on social and moral distinction with ideas on symbolic boundaries and moral hierarchies; (b) empirically by presenting in-depth qualitative data on the construction and maintenance of a peculiar elite community, noting that few studies have reported data from a neighbourhood designated as ‘elite’ from the start; and (c) methodologically by drawing on a mix of methods including historical documents, interviews and participant observation in order to examine both historical and contemporary aspects of ‘consecrating exclusion’.

Highlights

This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities
Henrik Palme had made a large fortune through credits to real estate builders in Stockholm, but he was not alone in having earned much money in a relatively short period of time during early Swedish industrialism: a new economic elite had seen the light of day in the late 1800s
In order to raise their social standing, some of them, in Sweden and other countries, created elite schools and elite universities; others engaged in extensive philanthropy in arts and museums, which generated praise and recognition by the established classes – these can be seen as deliberate actions to make wealthy people seem more honourable; to sanctify them in Durkheim’s (1973) meaning of consecration

Summary

Introduction

This article addresses a largely neglected area of study in sociology, namely the consecration of people in elite communities. The study contributes to the sociology of elites in three ways: (a) theoretically through the notion of ‘consecrating exclusion’, by synthesizing ideas on social and moral distinction with ideas on symbolic boundaries and moral hierarchies; (b) empirically by presenting in-depth qualitative data on the construction and maintenance of a peculiar elite community, noting that few studies have reported data from a neighbourhood designated as ‘elite’ from the start; and (c) methodologically by drawing on a mix of methods including historical documents, interviews and participant observation in order to examine both historical and contemporary aspects of ‘consecrating exclusion’. A recent study is Wiesel’s (2018) Power, Glamour and Angst: Inside Australia’s Elite Neighbourhoods, which, based on the notion of social capital, presents a rich ethnographic examination of the lifestyle of three Australian elite communities. Consecration involves socialization in terms of social identity processes and the active construction of moral and social distinction; but is something different in that it makes its subjects appear socially and morally exemplary in the view of themselves and others, which is critical to their power and influence (see Hartmann, 2000; Pincon & Pincon-Charlot, 1999)

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