Privilege

An inside look at how one of the country’s most elite private schools prepares its students for successAs one of the most prestigious high schools in the nation, St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, has long been the exclusive domain of America's wealthiest sons. But times have changed. Today, a new elite of boys and girls is being molded at St. Paul's, one that reflects the hope of openness but also the persistence of inequality.In Privilege, Shamus Khan returns to his alma mater to provide an inside look at an institution that has been the private realm of the elite for the past 150 years. He shows that St. Paul's students continue to learn what they always have—how to embody privilege. Yet, while students once leveraged the trappings of upper-class entitlement, family connections, and high culture, current St. Paul's students learn to succeed in a more diverse environment. To be the future leaders of a more democratic world, they must be at ease with everything from highbrow art to everyday life—from Beowulf to Jaws—and view hierarchies as ladders to scale. Through deft portrayals of the relationships among students, faculty, and staff, Khan shows how members of the new elite face the opening of society while still preserving the advantages that allow them to rule.

"A highly readable, intellectually humble hybrid of modern anthropology and magazine-style investigation."---Talmon Joseph Smith, New York Times Book Review, "Ethnographic research into the very heart of privilege. . . . [Khan] steps down from his pedestal and lets himself get closer to these future masters of the universe."---Robin D. Schatz, Bloomberg News, "This book is beautifully written and filled with important insights into processes of socialization among the elite. I recommend this book for all scholars interested in the reproduction of inequality in U.S. society."---Wendy Leo Moore, American Journal of Sociology, "The elites in Britain and in America have changed. They now appear more open. More worldly. More meritocratic. For a description of how that process works, look at [Privilege]."---Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian, "Khan's many perspectives—as a minority student in a rich WASP school, as a teacher interacting with his students, and as a researcher observing his subjects—gave him unique access to understanding the American elite. . . . Khan's objectivity turns to pessimism as he describes the result of greater diversity, which he finds 'does not mean mobility and it certainly does not mean equality.'"---Barbara Fisher, Boston Globe

Shamus Khan is professor of sociology and American studies at Princeton University. He is an alumnus and former faculty member of St. Paul's School.