Lit Review #1

Citation: Ho, Karen.  “Biographies of Hegemony.” The New Humanities Reader, 5th edition. Kurt Spellmeyer and Richard Miller, eds.  Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2015. 165-191.  Print.  

Summary: This piece discusses the idea that elite jobs are filled by those of already elite status, meaning those who have attended the Ivy Leagues. Karen Ho’s work looks into the recruiting process of companies on Wall Street and their idea of a perfect candidate. The future employees of companies such as Merrill Lynch are looking for young adults who show a certain level of “smartness”. Ho explains that yes, these students have to be smart but they have to be more than that. A lot of the job is learned on the spot; no one is really prepared for what Wall Street has to offer until they are thrown into their job. What’s crucial is the status that the new employee has, it must fit the setting of Wall Street, high class elitists. Ho dives in to Wall Street and tries to pick out what really qualifies someone to work in a job of such a high status.

Karen Ho

Author: Karen Ho graduated with her bachelors and masters from Stanford University and her PhD in anthropology from Princeton. She is now a professor at the University of Minnesota but before that she spent many years in Manhattan working on Wall Street as an investment banker. Her experience as an investment banker makes her very knowledgeable in her work as she refers to what she noticed while being recruited and working on Wall Street.

Key Terms:

            “Culture of smartness”—this term pertains not only to intelligence but financial smartness as well. The higher the status one has the “smarter” they become to elite companies such as those on Wall Street.

            “Elitism”—the theory that those of a high status can hold power and have a great deal of influence over certain systems or society as a whole.

           

Quotes:

            “They are declared to be “the best and the brightest.” They quickly become used to the respect, status and impressive nods from peers, parental figures, job prospectors and society at large” (Ho, 179).

            “On Wall Street, “smartness” means much more than individual intelligence; it conveys a naturalized and generic sense of “impressiveness,” of elite, pinnacle status and expertise, which is used to signify, even prove, investment bankers’ worthiness as advisors to corporate America and leaders of the global financial market” (Ho, 167).

“I found not only that most bankers came from a few elite institutions, but also that most undergraduates and even many graduate students assumed that the only “suitable” destinations for life after Princeton—the only sectors offering a truly “Princeton-like job”—were, first, investment banking, and second, management consulting” (Ho, 169).

           

Value: I find this source extremely valuable to my research because it really supports what I am trying to understand about Ivy League schools and those who attend them. She describes the mindset of the students and the mindset of those recruiting in the elite job market. Both of these topics will play a big role in how I determine what “success” means to those in Ivy League schools as well as the institutions themselves.