Gender, Social Class, and Exclusion: Collegiate Peer Cultures and Social Reproduction

This  article  explores  gender  and  class  exclusion  among  college students. The authors use qualitative data to explore how students talk about gender and class exclusion and quantitative data to model patterns of exclusion within the Greek  system.  The  Greek  system  serves  as  a  site  for  social  reproduction.  Students constructed  young  women  as  elitist  and  prone  to  class  exclusion,  while typifying young  men  as  unconcerned  with  such  matters.  Quantitative  analyses  complicate these  findings.  Within  the  Greek  system,  women  are  less  exclusive  than  alleged and  men  more  so.  This  discontinuity  may  reflect  gender  stereotypes  and  gender differences in the embodiment of social class. The authors argue that these patterns reinforce  male  privilege  through  the  assertion that they  are  not  engaged  in  social class exclusion while lacing undue blame on women as agents of class reproduction.