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Klappentext This journey into the lives of prep school students is an attempt to understand the pressures and consequences of prescribed gender ideals from their own perspectives and through their own words. The chapters of this book are organized around the symbolic opposition these adolescents create as they live, eat, study, and play among their peers and teachers at Bolton Academy. The class, ethnic, and individual differences in the performance of gender reveal how culture and development are interrelated and necessarily fused through the power of agency. This inside look at the everyday social interactions of these adolescents reveals how institutions and groups in power incorporate and perpetuate hierarchies and power structures, which in turn serve to form American character. This study attempts to demystify the highly-gendered and seemingly-incongruous nature of these adolescents' lives. Zusammenfassung Although New England boarding schools have been educating America's elite for four generations, they, along with their privileged students, rarely have been the subject of study. Living in a senior boys' dorm at a co-ed school, Sarah Chase was able to witness the inner workings of student culture and the dynamics of their peer groups. In an environment of ivy-covered buildings, institutional goals of excellence and aspirations to Ivy League colleges, the boys and girls acted extremely masculine or feminine. While girls typically worked themselves into a state of sleep deprivation and despair during exam period, the boys remained seemingly unconcerned and relaxed. As much as the girls felt pressure to be "cute" and "perfect," the boys felt pressure to be "bad ass" and the "best at everything." Tellingly, the boys thought that "it would suck" to be a girl, while over one third of the girls wanted to be male if given the chance. From her vantage point of sitting in the back of the football and field hockey buses, attending prom and senior pranks, and listening to how students described their academic and social pressures, competition, rumors, backstabbing, sex, and partying, Chase discovered that these boys and girls shared similar values, needs and desires despite their highly gendered behavior. The large class, ethnic and individual differences in how the students perform their genders reveal the importance of culture in development and the power of individual agency. This book examines the price of privilege and uncovers how student culture reflects and perpetuates society and institutional power structures and gender ideologies. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: Gender Ideologies at Prep School Culture and Development 2: Prep Schools and Bolton Academy Studying Up Getting Behind the Scenes 3: Social Worlds: How Girls and Guys Do it Differently More Similarities Than Differences The Overt Value of "Other" The Covert Value of "Self" Relationships - the Domain of Girls The Saga of Prom Sports Teams Community Service Magazines Dorm Rooms Conclusion 4: Cute Girls, Cool Guys The Overt Value of Individuality The Covert Value of Conformity Performing Class Performing Gender Sexuality Conclusion 5: Difference at Bolton: Race, Class and More Overt Value of Equality Covert Value of Inequality Race High Class Club and the Bitch Squad Preppies vs. Townies Form Hierarchy Cliques Conclusion 6: Perfect Girls, Best-at-Everything Guys Overt Values of Excellence and Fun Reality - Individualistic and Gendered Excellence Fun Freedom and Constraint Conclusion 7: Masculinity Wins the Day "Part of a Club" The Malleability of Gender Educated in Excellence Masculinity over Femininity Broader Implications The Power of Knowledge Endnotes Bibliography ...
