What do you think?
Rate this book
Women in the Political Economy
Women of the Upper Class
In a unique departure from the usual stereotypes, Susan Ostrander gained access to this elite community and interviewed the women in one U.S. region to study their roles, activities, and self-images. Among her conclusions, Ostrander shows that although these women are economically and socially powerful, they are for the most part, unliberated, being subservient to their husbands and to their duty to bear and raise children.
In the series Women in the Political Economy , edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.
In the series Women in the Political Economy , edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.
- GenresNonfiction
183 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1983
4 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
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- (Slightly outdated) Many of the women were not college educated (due to family insistence "all the girls went to Bryn Mawr but not me") but crave to - they think they can climb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 of 1 review