Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality

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· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Chloe Cannon
5.0
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10 hr 35 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

Two young women, dormitory mates, embark on their education at a big state university. Five years later, one is earning a good salary at a prestigious accounting firm. With no loans to repay, she lives in a fashionable apartment with her fiance. The other woman, saddled with burdensome debt and a low GPA, is still struggling to finish her degree in tourism. In an era of skyrocketing tuition and mounting concern over whether college is "worth it," Paying for the Party is an indispensable contribution to the dialogue assessing the state of American higher education. Drawing on findings from a five-year interview study, Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton bring us to the campus of "MU," a flagship Midwestern public university, where we follow a group of women drawn into a culture of status seeking and sororities. Mapping different pathways available to MU students, the authors demonstrate that the most well-resourced and seductive route is a "party pathway" anchored in the Greek system and facilitated by the administration. This pathway exerts influence over the academic and social experiences of all students, and while it benefits the affluent and well-connected, Armstrong and Hamilton make clear how it seriously disadvantages the majority.

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About the author

Elizabeth A. Armstrong is professor of sociology and organizational studies at the University of Michigan. She is coauthor, with Laura T. Hamilton, of Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.

Laura T. Hamilton is associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced. She is coauthor, with Elizabeth A. Armstrong, of Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.

Audiobook narration seized Chloe Cannon's interest when reading aloud to local seniors, who informed her that her reading sounded "just like their audiobooks!" Since then, she has narrated titles in a variety of genres, including young adult, sci-fi/fantasy, romance, self-help, thriller/suspense, and biography.

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