Making the American Aristocracy: Women, Cultural Capital, and High Society in New York City, 1870-1900

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dc.contributor.authorBibby, Emily Katherineen
dc.contributor.committeechairJones, Kathleen W.en
dc.contributor.committeememberEwing, E. Thomasen
dc.contributor.committeememberJohnson, Sharon P.en
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:40:29Zen
dc.date.adate2009-07-06en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:40:29Zen
dc.date.issued2009-06-10en
dc.date.rdate2009-07-06en
dc.date.sdate2009-06-24en
dc.description.abstractFor over three decades, during the height of Gilded Age economic extravagance, the women of New York High Society maintained an elite social identity by possessing, displaying, and cultivating cultural capital. Particularly, High Society women sought to exclude the Nouveaux Riches who, after amassing vast fortunes in industry or trade, came to New York City in search of social position. High Society women distinguished themselves from these social climbers by obeying restrictive codes of speech, body language, and dress that were the manifestations of their cultural capital. However, in a country founded upon an ethos of egalitarianism, exclusivity could not be maintained for long. Mass-circulated media, visual artwork, and etiquette manuals celebrated the Society woman's cultural capital, but simultaneously popularized it, making it accessible to the upwardly mobile. By imitating the representations of High Society life that they saw in newspapers, magazines, and the sketches of Charles Dana Gibson, Nouveau Riche social climbers and even aspirant middle and working class women bridged many of the barriers that Society women sought to impose.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.identifier.otheretd-06242009-231445en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06242009-231445/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/33733en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartEKBMMastersThesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectCultural Capitalen
dc.subjectDressen
dc.subjectCulture of Aspirationen
dc.subjectCulture of Consumptionen
dc.subjectHigh Societyen
dc.subjectNew York Cityen
dc.subjectSpeechen
dc.subjectPostureen
dc.subjectWomenen
dc.subjectSpaceen
dc.subjectGilded Ageen
dc.titleMaking the American Aristocracy: Women, Cultural Capital, and High Society in New York City, 1870-1900en
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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