15-03-2024
Privilege, with Shamus Khan
What does privilege look like today? How do the advantaged perform “ease”? And why do some of us feel at home in elite spaces, while others feel awkward? Princeton sociologist Shamus Khan joins Uncommon Sense to reflect on elites, entitlement and more. Reminding us that “poor people are not why there’s inequality; rich people are why there’s inequality”, he highlights the importance of studying elites for studying inequality, as the gap between the two grows.Being the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St Paul’s School (2011), Shamus tells Rosie and Alexis about how the way elites justify and see their position has shifted – and how a disability studies perspective helps us to cast a critical eye on the “ease” with which the few seem to nimbly navigate elite institutions. What seems like some of us “have it” and others “just don’t” is, suggests Shamus, socially produced – and what appears to be a “flat” and open world, ripe for the bold to seize, is really far more complex.Plus: why might people who share the same knowledge be valued differently when that knowledge is held in different – racialised, minoritised – bodies? Also: why TV shows and movies about elites don’t stop at Saltburn, Succession and The Kardashians?Guest: Shamus KhanHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon SenseEpisode ResourcesFrom The Sociological ReviewSpatial Delight: Space Invaders – N. Puwar, A. LisiakUncommon Sense: Taste – I. Karademir Hazir, R. Hancock, A. H. Truong‘Talent-spotting’ or ‘social magic’? Inequality, cultural sorting and constructions of the ideal graduate in elite professions – N. Ingram, K. AllenBy Shamus KhanPrivilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's SchoolSaying Meritocracy and Doing Privilege (co-authored with Colin Jerolmack)How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America (co-authored with Fabien Accominotti, Adam Storer)Further reading“Flexible Citizenship” – A. Ong“Space Invaders” – N. Puwar“Learning to Labour” – P. Willis“Understanding audience segmentation” – R. Peterson“Reality Television and Class” – B. Skeggs, H. Wood“‘Oh goodness, I am watching reality TV’: How methods make class in audience research” – B. Skeggs, N. Thumim, H. Wood“Capital in the 21st Century” – T. PikettyRead more about Shey O’Brien, Fabien Acconomoti, Pierre Bourdieu and Frantz Fanon.Support Uncommon SenseUncommon Sense is a project of the Sociological Review Foundation, a charity whose mission is to promote sociological thinking to audiences beyond academia.There is a long and heartening tradition of listener support for independent podcasts. If you enjoy what you’ve heard and learned from Uncommon Sense, we’d be grateful for your support for the creation of future episodes.Make a one-off or regular donation