The Evolution of the American Upper Class

This episode discusses the evolution of the American upper class from a local and familial to a national and associational community. It describes the nationalization and industrialization of the US in the post-Civil War era. And it explains the challenges faced by the old WASP establishment leading up to its demise in the 1960s: managerialism, ethno-religious exclusion, and the failure to take up leadership positions in society. Rediscovering E. Digby Baltzell's Sociology of Elites: h...