The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Index of Terms

Cultural Capital

First coined by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the term refers to the collection of social norms and assumed ways of being that are valued in specific contexts. At Renowned, such norms include the idea that students are supposed to network with faculty or feel entitled to ask for help. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often have a disadvantage at college because they lack the cultural capital students from affluent or middle-class backgrounds possess, although Jack argues that some cultural capital is learned not at home but in high school, especially the elite ones attended by upper-income and Privileged Poor students.

Culture Shock

Culture shock, as defined by the sociologist Kimberly Torres, is the feeling of strangeness and discomfort experienced by someone suddenly exposed to a new way of life or social attitude. Disadvantaged students often experience culture shock when exposed to their wealthier, whiter classmates at elite universities such as Renowned, as they are not used to being surrounded by conspicuous wealth or to navigating the unspoken norms of college life. However, the Privileged Poor typically experience this culture shock in high school, allowing them to more easily adjust to life at Renowned.

The Doubly Disadvantaged

The Doubly Disadvantaged is the name Jack gives to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who attended high schools in economically blighted neighborhoods and lacking basic resources before entering Renowned. These students enter Renowned with no background information on what elite colleges expect of them and struggle to adjust. Out of Jack’s 76 lower-income subjects, 55 came from this category.

The Privileged Poor

The Privileged Poor is the name Jack gives to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who attended elite private high schools before entering Renowned. They enter Renowned having already adjusted to much of the culture shock their disadvantaged peers feel. Out of Jack’s 76 lower-income subjects, 21 came from this category.

Renowned University

Renowned is the pseudonym for the university at which Jack conducted his research. It is a prestigious college in the Northeastern US with a long history of educating academically gifted youth. At the time of Jack’s study, the undergraduate student body was roughly 50% white, 20% Asian, and 12% each Black and Latino. One third of all students came from families that had too much in annual income and/or assets to qualify for any financial aid. Jack chose to use a pseudonym for the school for privacy reasons, and to make it harder to dismiss the realities he exposes by saying they are unique to the school he researched.