In this episode, we talk with prof. dr. Ashley Mears (Boston University) and dr. Anne Monier (ESSEC Paris) about gender and the body in contemporary elites. Both sociologists have done extensive ethnographic research on elites – respectively the global VIP party circuit, and the Philantropic scene of the 'American friends' of French cultural institutions. Their ethnographic work sheds light on the way gender operates in contemporary elites.

What can a “gender lens” contribute to our understanding of today’s elites? And more specifically: what is the role of women – as a dominated social category – in this exclusive and dominant segment of society? And how does ethnographic work help us to answer these questions?

Readings and materials:

Glucksberg, Luna (2018) A gendered ethnography of elites: women, inequality, and social reproduction. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 81. pp. 16-28.

Mears, A. (2015). Girls as elite distinction: The appropriation of bodily capital. Poetics, 53, 22-37.

Mears, A. (2020) Five Surprising Things I Learned from Partying with Rich People. Literary Hub https://lithub.com/five-surprising-things-i-learned-from-partying-with-rich-people/

Monier, A. (2018). The role of social capital in transnational elite philanthropy: the example of the American Friends groups of French cultural institutions. Socio-Economic Review, 16(2), 387-410.

Monier, A. (2021) Women’s philanthropy: an invisible phenomenon. The conversation

https://theconversation.com/womens-philanthropy-an-invisible-phenomenon-157927

Recommended readings

Bessiere, C. & Gollac, S. (2020). Le genre du capital (the Gender of Capital). Paris: La Découverte. https://celinebessiere.ovh/index.php/the-gender-of-capital/

Mears, A. (2020). Very important people: Status and beauty in the global party circuit. Princeton University Press.