Shunning Unearned Advantage: Cultural Perspectives on Meritocracy and Privilege at an Elite University

• In Event: Inequality in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper contributes to existing understandings of elite higher education by examining how freshmen students at Harvard think about their newfound status privileges. Drawing upon 29 interviews, I find that students believe that they must be fully-committed to their educational endeavors to be worthy of benefiting from the privileges made available to them as Harvard students. While students recognize that their mere association to Harvard gives them disproportionate, and arguably unfair, access to various social, cultural, and economic resources, they claim that it is important to continue to achieve success solely through meritocratic processes. Through developing these culturally-mediated beliefs and practices around their elite status, these students justify their privileged position in society and the benefits accorded to that position.

Author

• Jonathan Hampton, Harvard University