Wealth, Whiteness, and the Matrix of Privilege
The View from the Country Club
By (author) Jessica Holden Sherwood
Publication date:
25 September 2010Length of book:
188 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9780739134122
Exclusive social clubs are traditionally an important site for the consolidation of upper-class power. Wealth, Whiteness, and the Matrix of Privilege shows that while the particulars of admission have changed, these clubs remain socially significant incubators. Having interviewed typically inaccessible members of exclusive clubs in the Northeast, Jessica Holden Sherwood reports and analyzes what they have to say about who is in, who is out, and why. The members talk frankly about their exclusiveness based on money and style, but they are quick to point out that ethnically-based exclusion is a thing of the past. Club members also address the status of their women members, which is at times distinctly second-class. The talk of country club members is shown to draw on elements in popular discourse. And even if it's not their intention, as club members exclude and account for their exclusion, they contribute to reproducing class, race, and gender inequalities.
Country clubs are places people join in order to play golf and spend time with like-minded people. Most are quite expensive and hence are exclusive. Few members of such clubs are nonwhite—another form of exclusion. Most clubs now have women members, but they are kept in 'their place,' e.g., with limited times for playing golf. In her study of four country clubs, which are mainly male, white, and wealthy, Sherwood (Rhode Island) asks how members account for their exclusive conduct. ("Account" is the sociological term that refers to the way people explain or justify their behavior.) The account given for excluding the less well off is just that: they cannot afford membership. Most members deny racial exclusion because of one or two wealthy and professional African American members. The subtle, disguised account for the subordinate status of women in the clubs is that it is like their place in family, namely, not quite equal partners. Sherwood's many cited member comments . . . convey a sense of the varied mind-sets of club members. Summing Up: Recommended.