In his book, Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, Shamus Khan, a sociologist, uses his observations, interviews, and analysis of St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire to use St. Paul’s as an example of how or why Privilege exists among the ‘elite’ classes. Shamus Khan argues that both privileges are mostly inherited through family inheritance of social capital, but they also can be earned through higher education.
Privilege Shamus Khan Sparknotes
Shamus Khan is a sociologist and the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School. He is also the chairman of Columbia University’s sociology department.
Khan was born in Pakistan and raised in England. He attended St. Paul’s, an elite boarding school in London, on scholarship. After graduating from college, he worked as a management consultant in New York City. He then earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University.
Khan’s research focuses on social inequality, culture, and education. His work has been published in academic journals such as the American Sociological Review and Social Forces.
In Privilege, Khan examines the culture of privilege at St. Paul’s, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the United States. He argues that the school produces a privileged class of young people who are groomed for success in college and beyond.
Khan uses his own experience as a student at St. Paul’s to illustrate how the school’s culture shapes its students. He describes how the school’s traditions and values create an environment that is conducive to academic and professional success. He also discusses how the school’s social structure affects its students, both positively and negatively.
Privilege is an insightful and thought-provoking look at the culture of privilege at an elite boarding school. It will be of interest to sociologists, educators, and anyone who is interested in the topic of social inequality.
Shamus Khan outlines how the students at St. Paul’s use their privilege to reap rewards they don’t necessarily deserve. He describes this as leaving some people behind on purpose by creating competition within groups based on classism and looks down upon those he considers less privileged than him because Shamus believes they are incapable of achieving what Shamus has and Shamus believes he is superior because of his education and social background. Shamus also discusses how those who have less privilege are treated as ‘lesser’ people.
Privilege Chapter 4 summary
In chapter 4 of Shamus Khan’s book, “Privilege”, the author looks at how privilege is enacted and reproduced through social institutions. He begins by discussing the concept of “bounded autonomy”, which refers to the limits placed on individuals’ ability to act freely in society. These limits are often determined by one’s social position or status. For example, wealthy people have more freedom to choose where they live, work, and send their children to school than poor people do.
Khan then goes on to discuss how social institutions like schools and workplaces reinforce inequality by providing different opportunities and resources to people based on their social position. For example, private schools are more likely to have better resources and facilities than public schools, and people who work in high-status jobs often have access to more information and resources than those who work in low-status jobs.
Finally, Khan looks at how the media reproduces inequality by portraying different social groups in a biased way. For example, minorities are often underrepresented in the media, or they may be portrayed in a negative light.
Shamus does not believe that someone without privilege can be happy or successful no matter what they do, Shamus believes that privilege is a determinant of whether you succeed in life or not, Shamus also believes that privilege can be a good thing even though Shamus has a very elitist take on the world. Shamus starts by going to St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire where Shamus got his Ph. D. from and Shamus talks about how he first became interested in St. Paul’s when Shamus was Shamus’ teaching assistant at Princeton.
Shamus decided to apply for a job to work at St. Paul’s because Shamus believed Shamus would be able to study the upper class of society, Shamus wanted to find out about how social capital brings success and privilege. Shamus interviewed 22 of Shamus’ classmates who Shamus referred to Shamus as “our cohort”, Shamus did these interviews because Shamus wanted to compare their experiences at St. Paul’s School with Shamus’s experience there. Shamus studied how this privileged group uses privilege to help or hurt others. Shamus says that Shamus’ book is about an aristocracy Shamus calls “The Ruling Elite. Shamus also says that Shamus’s book follows the privileged class through St Paul’s School.
Shamus uses his interviews with students at St. Paul’s to comment on how privilege distributes itself in this highly competitive society Shamus claims Shamus book is Shamus’ version of Shamus’ life at St. Paul’s School, Shamus also discusses how Shamus was able to get Shamus eight interviews with the 22 classmates Shamus refers to as “our cohort”, a small portion of a larger population of graduates from Shamus’ graduating class Shamus uses Shamus friends who Shamus refers to Shamus as “our cohort” Shamus calls Shamus book Shamus’s version of Shamus life at St. Paul’s School because Shamus has no other firsthand experience with the place, unlike Shamus classmates who went there for four years Shamus book contains Shamus’ observations and Shamus interviews with Shamus classmates.
Shamus Khan talks about how both privileges are mostly inherited through family inheritance of social capital, but they also can be earned through higher education. Shamus Khan uses St. Paul’s as an example for Shamus’s book because Shamus went to St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire where Shamus got Shamus Ph. D. rom and Shamus decided to apply for a job at St. Paul’s to Shamus’ research on the upper class of society.
Shamus believes that the lack of privilege will lead to failure because people are just too different, thereby giving some people greater chances at success than others based on their social background. Base On The Author’s Background Shamus was raised in a wealthy family in New York City and attended the prestigious St Paul’s School in New Hampshire where Shamus got his Ph. D. from.
Shamus was able to do this research through friends he had made while attending St. Paul’s School when he applied for a job Shamus was Shamus of people who had graduated from St. Paul’s School, but only eight were willing to be interviewed by Shamus. These students of St. Paul’s are the primary source of information for this book because they act as an example of the upper-class education system present in St. Paul’s and through their experiences, Shamus tries to prove his point on privilege throughout his writing.
Shahtmas wrote Privilege: The Making Of An Adolescent Elite At St Paul’s School with a first-hand experience at St. Paul’s School because he attended it for seven years before receiving his Ph. D. Shamus gradated graduating. Shamsus’ conducted his research for this book through eight of his interviewees who shared their experience at St. Paul’s School with him and Shamus used these interviews as the primary source for this book because it contained first-hand information on the school that he would never be able to gain without having gone there himself.
Shamus experienced both privilege and lack of privilege throughout his time in private high schools, but Shamus believes he gained even more privilege from going to a privileged school such as St. Paul’s which is what sets him apart from other people who did not Shamus born in a wealthy family and went to such an elitist school. Shamsu’s thesis in this book is that privilege plays a huge role in the outcome of students’ lives and that it largely determines whether they will succeed or fail.
This thesis can be seen throughout his book through all of the examples and arguments he uses the book to support his main idea. Thesis: “Privilege plays a huge role in the outcome of students’ lives and largely determines whether they will succeed or fail. ” By reading this book, I have gained a greater understanding of how privilege works, especially regarding education. I normally believe that people create their success, but Shamus argues that privilege plays a pivotal role in the outcome of people’s lives.
Shamus used privilege to describe any kind of advantage one has over another person for example; money, intelligence, attractiveness, etc. which gives them an unfair advantage in life. I can see how privilege can be applied to these different things and therefore these are all examples of privilege Khan uses throughout his book. Overall, I was not convinced by this book because it did not prove its point to me well enough and relied too heavily on personal experience rather than hard facts like Kohn’s book does.
