The Socialization of the Power Elite in an American Boarding School

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2011
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Haverford College. Department of Anthropology
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
By examining how two Chinese female students at The Founders School adjust to the demands of an elite boarding school environment, as well as my own personal experiences of socialization when I was student at Founders, this thesis attempts to determine what influences a student's place in and relationship to the social hierarchy of the hegemonic culture of Founders. Additionally this thesis looks at what the students’ position‐‐in particular their regional and class origins in China, the intensity of their nationalism and relationship to elite internationalism‐‐means for the way that they interact with the school. In particular, I look at the domains of dress, use of school space, and participation in gossip as key sites for the expression and structuring of this interaction. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, I show how previous structurally‐determined life experiences ease or hinder the transition into what I call after Michel Foucault the "total institution" of the U.S. prep school.
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