The anxiety of affluence

Abstract

This review essay of Producing Success: The Culture of Personal Advancement in an American High School by Peter Demerath focuses on the theory of cultural dysfunction. It places the book within a theoretical tradition of social reproduction and status attainment using other ethnographies by Varenne and McDermott, Lareau, and Howard. It argues that this book depicts the institution of the school as operating on its own logic, not really “controlled” by anyone.

Keywords:

• ethnography
• high school
• social reproduction
• achievement
• cultural dysfunction