Women of the Upper Class

Women of the Upper Class
Author :
Publisher : Temple University Press
Total Pages : 195
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781439905371
ISBN-13 : 1439905371
Rating : 4/5 (71 Downloads)

Synopsis Women of the Upper Class by : Susan Ostrander

Although these women are economically and socially powerful, they are for the most part unliberated.

The Power of Good Deeds

The Power of Good Deeds
Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages : 212
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0742519767
ISBN-13 : 9780742519763
Rating : 4/5 (67 Downloads)

Synopsis The Power of Good Deeds by : Diana Elizabeth Kendall

The Power of Good Deeds allows us to see behind the media image of upper-class women and to observe how these women use their social power not only to benefit other, less-fortunate people, but also to benefit themselves and their families. The personal narratives of elite women as they describe their views on philanthropy, the need for exclusivity in their by-invitation-only volunteer organizations (such as the Junior League and The Links), their childhood experiences and college years in prestigious schools and sororities, and the debutante presentations and other upper-class rituals in which they participate are drawn from Kendall's ethnographic research. Participating in meetings and social functions with elite women in several Texas cities, along with conducting systematic interviews, the author gained unprecedented access to elite women across racial and ethnic categories. The Power of Good Deeds provides new insights and greater depth to our knowledge about the upper classes and how the charitable activities of privileged women contribute to the process of legitimation, maintaining an ideology of class-based and race-based segregation in the United States.

In Pursuit of Privilege

In Pursuit of Privilege
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 509
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231542951
ISBN-13 : 023154295X
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Synopsis In Pursuit of Privilege by : Clifton Hood

A history that extends from the 1750s to the present, In Pursuit of Privilege recounts upper-class New Yorkers' struggle to create a distinct world guarded against outsiders, even as economic growth and democratic opportunity enabled aspirants to gain entrance. Despite their efforts, New York City's upper class has been drawn into the larger story of the city both through class conflict and through their role in building New York's cultural and economic foundations. In Pursuit of Privilege describes the famous and infamous characters and events at the center of this extraordinary history, from the elite families and wealthy tycoons of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the Wall Street executives of today. From the start, upper-class New Yorkers have been open and aggressive in their behavior, keen on attaining prestige, power, and wealth. Clifton Hood sharpens this characterization by merging a history of the New York economy in the eighteenth century with the story of Wall Street's emergence as an international financial center in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the dominance of New York's financial and service sectors in the 1980s. Bringing together several decades of upheaval and change, he shows that New York's upper class did not rise exclusively from the Gilded Age but rather from a relentless pursuit of privilege, affecting not just the urban elite but the city's entire cultural, economic, and political fabric.

Primates of Park Avenue

Primates of Park Avenue
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 272
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781476762715
ISBN-13 : 1476762716
Rating : 4/5 (15 Downloads)

Synopsis Primates of Park Avenue by : Wednesday Martin

"Like an urban Dian Fossey, Wednesday Martin decodes the primate social behaviors of Upper East Side mothers in a brilliantly original and witty memoir about her adventures assimilating into that most secretive and elite tribe. After marrying a man from the Upper East Side and moving to the neighborhood, Wednesday Martin struggled to fit in. Drawing on her background in anthropology and primatology, she tried looking at her new world through that lens, and suddenly things fell into place. She understood the other mothers' snobbiness at school drop-off when she compared them to olive baboons. Her obsessional quest for a Hermes Birkin handbag made sense when she realized other females wielded them to establish dominance in their troop. And so she analyzed tribal migration patterns; display rituals; physical adornment, mutilation, and mating practices; extra-pair copulation; and more. Her conclusions are smart, thought-provoking, and hilariously unexpected. Every city has its Upper East Side, and in Wednesday's memoir, readers everywhere will recognize the strange cultural codes of powerful social hierarchies and the compelling desire to climb them. They will also see that Upper East Side mothers want the same things for their children that all mothers want--safety, happiness, and success--and not even sky-high penthouses and chauffeured SUVs can protect this ecologically released tribe from the universal experiences of anxiety and loss. When Wednesday's life turns upside down, she learns how deep the bonds of female friendship really are. Intelligent, funny, and heartfelt, Primates of Park Avenue lifts a veil on a secret, elite world within a world--the exotic, fascinating, and strangely familiar culture of privileged Manhattan motherhood"--

Women and the Work of Benevolence

Women and the Work of Benevolence
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 248
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0300052545
ISBN-13 : 9780300052541
Rating : 4/5 (45 Downloads)

Synopsis Women and the Work of Benevolence by : Lori D. Ginzberg

Nineteenth-century middle-class Protestant women were fervent in their efforts to "do good." Rhetoric--especially in the antebellum years--proclaimed that virtue was more pronounced in women than in men and praised women for their benevolent influence, moral excellence, and religious faith. In this book, Lori D. Ginzberg examines a broad spectrum of benevolent work performed by middle- and upper-middle-class women from the 1820s to 185 and offers a new interpretation of the shifting political contexts and meanings of this long tradition of women's reform activism. During the antebellum period, says Ginzberg, the idea of female moral superiority and the benevolent work it supported contained both radical and conservative possibilities, encouraging an analysis of femininity that could undermine male dominance as well as guard against impropriety. At the same time, benevolent work and rhetoric were vehicles for the emergence of a new middle-class identity, one which asserts virtue--not wealth--determined status. Ginzberg shows how a new generation that came of age during the 1850s and the Civil War developed new analyses of benevolence and reform. By post-bellum decades, the heirs of antebellum benevolence referred less to a mission of moral regeneration and far more to a responsibility to control the poor and "vagrant," signaling the refashioning of the ideology of benevolence from one of gender to one of class. According to Ginzberg, these changing interpretations of benevolent work throughout the century not only signal an important transformation in women's activists' culture and politics but also illuminate the historical development of American class identity and of women's role in constructing social and political authority.

Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain

Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain
Author :
Publisher : Oxford Historical Monographs
Total Pages : 288
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0198207271
ISBN-13 : 9780198207276
Rating : 4/5 (71 Downloads)

Synopsis Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain by : K. D. Reynolds

This study of gender and power in Victorian Britain is the first book to examine the contribution made by women to the public culture of the British aristocracy in the 19th century. Based on a wide range of archival sources, it explores the roles of aristocratic women in public life, from their country estates to the salons of Westminster and the royal court. Reynolds also shows that a partnership of authority between men and women was integral to aristocratic life, thus making an important contribution to the "separate spheres" debate. Moreover, she reveals in full the crucial role that these women played at all levels of political activity--from local communities to the national electoral process. The book is both a lively portrait of women's experiences in modern Britain and a corrective to the view of the upper-class Victorian woman as a passive social butterfly.

White Feminism

White Feminism
Author :
Publisher : Atria Books
Total Pages : 320
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781982134419
ISBN-13 : 1982134410
Rating : 4/5 (19 Downloads)

Synopsis White Feminism by : Koa Beck

A timely and impassioned exploration of how our society has commodified feminism and continues to systemically shut out women of color—perfect for fans of White Fragility and Good and Mad. Join the important conversation about race, empowerment, and inclusion in the United States with this powerful new feminist classic and rousing call for change. Koa Beck, writer and former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, boldly examines the history of feminism, from the true mission of the suffragettes to the rise of corporate feminism with clear-eyed scrutiny and meticulous detail. She also examines overlooked communities—including Native American, Muslim, transgender, and more—and their difficult and ongoing struggles for social change. In these pages she meticulously documents how elitism and racial prejudice has driven the narrative of feminist discourse. She blends pop culture, primary historical research, and first-hand storytelling to show us how we have shut women out of the movement, and what we can do to course correct for a new generation—perfect for women of color looking for a more inclusive way to fight for women’s rights. Combining a scholar’s understanding with hard data and razor-sharp cultural commentary, White Feminism is a witty, whip-smart, and profoundly eye-opening book that challenges long-accepted conventions and completely upends the way we understand the struggle for women’s equality.

The 9.9 Percent

The 9.9 Percent
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 352
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781982114206
ISBN-13 : 1982114207
Rating : 4/5 (06 Downloads)

Synopsis The 9.9 Percent by : Matthew Stewart

A “brilliant” (The Washington Post), “clear-eyed and incisive” (The New Republic) analysis of how the wealthiest group in American society is making life miserable for everyone—including themselves. In 21st-century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9% that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country—and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system. They log insane hours at the office and then turn their leisure time into an excuse for more career-building, even as they rely on an underpaid servant class to power their economic success and satisfy their personal needs. They have segregated themselves into zip codes designed to exclude as many people as possible. They have made fitness a national obsession even as swaths of the population lose healthcare and grow sicker. They have created an unprecedented demand for admission to elite schools and helped to fuel the dramatic cost of higher education. They channel their political energy into symbolic conflicts over identity in order to avoid acknowledging the economic roots of their privilege. And they have created an ethos of “merit” to justify their advantages. They are all around us. In fact, they are us—or what we are supposed to want to be. In this “captivating account” (Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone), Matthew Stewart argues that a new aristocracy is emerging in American society and it is repeating the mistakes of history. It is entrenching inequality, warping our culture, eroding democracy, and transforming an abundant economy into a source of misery. He calls for a regrounding of American culture and politics on a foundation closer to the original promise of America.

High Society

High Society
Author :
Publisher : Assouline Books & Gifts
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 2759402886
ISBN-13 : 9782759402885
Rating : 4/5 (86 Downloads)

Synopsis High Society by : Nick Foulkes

High Society explores the intrigue of New York's upper class society and culture.

Old Money, New Woman

Old Money, New Woman
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 210
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1950118010
ISBN-13 : 9781950118014
Rating : 4/5 (10 Downloads)

Synopsis Old Money, New Woman by : Byron Tully

In Old Money, New Woman, author Byron Tully provides powerful insights and wit-soaked wisdom to help you make the most of your money and improve the quality of your life. Revealing 8 "Old Money Secrets," the author shares time-tested traditions and step-by-step strategies used by the women of America's Upper Class, generation after generation. From education and etiquette to cosmetics and clothing, this must-read book details these coveted, rarely-discussed fundamentals that any woman can use to achieve financial independence, discover her personal style, and make the most of every opportunity. With 18 chapters full of eye-opening information and life-changing inspiration, Old Money, New Woman is a handbook and a guidebook--a "life manual" packed with effective tools, enlightening examples, and soul-searching questions only you can answer--all with one goal in mind: to help you Manage Your Money and Your Life...and make it in the modern world.