CRAZY RICH METHODISTS: A STUDY OF THE BOUNDARY MAKING WORK OF SCHOOLING ELITES

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide a sociological account of how boundary making work is done by schooling elites. Drawing on insights from 7 alumni of an elite girls’ school in Singapore, this thesis examines how they draw upon symbolic boundaries such as money, morals and culture to distinguish groups of people in society. Using Lamont’s (1992) theoretical framework to illuminate high status symbols, the paper highlights how vertical and horizontal stratification is maintained and reproduced in society. This thesis has found that schooling elites largely draw upon a high socioeconomic status to vertically stratify against those not from MGS, while horizontal stratification within the elites are generally done through moral and cultural evaluations. More saliently, we find that individuals, even those within the same social class, are constantly negotiating their identities vis-à-vis others, in a bid to prove themselves as more “worthy” and to rationalise any sense of inferiorities. These are revealed to be tactics of negotiation, where such questioning of traditional standards of hierarchisation and an attempt to subordinate them to other ones, are simply ways to bolster one’s own status. Through that, we enrich our understanding of the mental and social maps that people draw in an attempt to define their identity against other groups of people. I argue that traditional notions of class that purport the sovereignty of high socioeconomic status are too narrow in the understanding of boundary making work. Instead, moral and cultural resources are equally significant and powerful in the negotiation of one’s identity.