Karessa Cohron
Soc 125
Paper 2

Option 1: Alien World
Shamus Khan’s Privilege the Making of An Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School explores an elite educational institution in the east coast. This institution was once only known and attended by the bourgeois but is now open to those with less cultural capital. By attending this high school, one can be sure the cultural gain and opportunities will open doors to a successful future. Kahn writes, “there are lessons at St. Paul’s which create privilege, “Instead of entitlement, I found that St. Paul increasingly cultivates privilege. Whereas elites of the past were entitled-building their worlds around the “right” breeding, connections, and culture-new elites develop privilege: sense of self and mode interaction that advantage them” (Khan:14). In this paper, I will describe my experience in an “alien” social context. This institution was called Lynwood Women’s Facility. Khan describes Saint Paul’s as an institution once attended only by the bourgeois. I entered Lynwood Women’s facility thinking that this was an institution only for hard core criminals, not someone “like me” who came from a family of so called “privilege”. Little did I know, It was not just for hard core criminals, it was opened to those of privilege as well. …show more content…
Khan explains: “And this ease-which, it turns out, is far more valuable than merely revering and produces expertise-is what students at St. Paul’s learn at a seated meal and everywhere else” (Khan:80). For me, acting “as if” got me where I needed to be. I acted as though I was at ease during work, at meals and during free time. I felt comfortable enough to be at ease which showed that I wasn’t “weak” or a threat to others. This prevented fights and uncomfortable feelings throughout my stay. In this setting, being a threat could get you jumped and being insecure or “weak” could get you the same result. It is necessary to be at ease in a hostile environment to show others that you can handle your