In a series of studies, we focused on the problem of how the social, including social power, is woven into the fabric of intelligence. We set the analysis into the context of the school system, the major carrier system of representations of social intelligence. In what ways is the social organised into the contents of representations, we asked, and in what ways does social position organise a person's representations? To shed light on these questions, we will present empirical findings about prototypes of an intelligent person, common–sense theories of social intelligence, historical relationships between the school system and the modern notion of social intelligence, and the conceptions of social intelligence evinced by educational attitudes. According to our findings, intelligence is associated with prominent hierarchical positions such as masculinity, high education and social success. We also found that the subjects' positions in social hierarchies tend to organise their representations of intelligence. In all these hierarchies, people in higher positions are inclined to regard intelligence as a 'natural' ability and to endorse a differential psychological concept of social intelligence.