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Women in the Political Economy
Women of the Upper Class
Susan A. Ostrander is Professor of Sociology at Tufts University.
- GenresNonfiction
183 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 1983
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August 2, 2022
- On socialization: for some women, clubs are the big facilitator ("You want to be in a place where other people are similar to you") and it's very selective ("People join because it's family tradition. For outsiders, they need to be known and get sponsored")
- On knowing other Upper Class women: "You know them, either through boarding schools or vacation in Maine"
- (Speaking of which - I realized that for many Americans, they are very sensitive of the class issue because they don't know the existence of the Upper Class. Unlike in the UK where public schools like Eton and Harrow are well known, most Americans don't even know their counterpart boarding schools like Andover, Groton, Milton or Phillips Exeter - for that matter, Canadians often don't know the existence of UCC. With US and Canada being such new countries with new people, I believe with time people will understand the existence of the Upper Class. For now, they can't fathom what they don't know - they're so far off in the race they don't see competitors running, they actually thought they're ahead)
- On fundraiser: it's for social maintenance, not for giving ahead for their husbands ("it's look down upon, you know those ladies right away"). Often times the husband would actually discourage the women to engage in social maintenance
- (Slightly outdated) Many of the women were not college educated (due to family insistence "all the girls went to Bryn Mawr but not me") but crave to - they think they can climb the corporate ladder as well as men
- None of the upper class women work - "I'm not trained to do anything professionally. I like what I'm doing now"
- On government vs private sector: almost all the Upper Class women believe government should stay away from the function of society and let private sector take care of it
- On race: "Jews" and "Blacks" are "others" - "they wouldn't like to socialize with us, they have their own group"
- On knowing other Upper Class women: "You know them, either through boarding schools or vacation in Maine"
- (Speaking of which - I realized that for many Americans, they are very sensitive of the class issue because they don't know the existence of the Upper Class. Unlike in the UK where public schools like Eton and Harrow are well known, most Americans don't even know their counterpart boarding schools like Andover, Groton, Milton or Phillips Exeter - for that matter, Canadians often don't know the existence of UCC. With US and Canada being such new countries with new people, I believe with time people will understand the existence of the Upper Class. For now, they can't fathom what they don't know - they're so far off in the race they don't see competitors running, they actually thought they're ahead)
- On fundraiser: it's for social maintenance, not for giving ahead for their husbands ("it's look down upon, you know those ladies right away"). Often times the husband would actually discourage the women to engage in social maintenance
- (Slightly outdated) Many of the women were not college educated (due to family insistence "all the girls went to Bryn Mawr but not me") but crave to - they think they can climb the corporate ladder as well as men
- None of the upper class women work - "I'm not trained to do anything professionally. I like what I'm doing now"
- On government vs private sector: almost all the Upper Class women believe government should stay away from the function of society and let private sector take care of it
- On race: "Jews" and "Blacks" are "others" - "they wouldn't like to socialize with us, they have their own group"
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review