Karen Ho's Liquidated
"Smartness." What a crock. The word is a wonderfully designed catchphrase that seems to be successfully enticing young and naive minds into unknowingly putting on a dog and pony show for these monstrous investment banks. What is so genius about the catchphrase is it's ability to mask the fact that the recruiters aren't really after an individuals knowledge at all. These companies are solely invested in maintaining their "good ol' boys club." This club just happens to be in control of America's national economy, as well as playing a colossal role in the global economy.
It was amazing to read about the recruitment processes that take place at these select universities. If I were just ever soooo lucky to be a student at one of these ivy league universities, I think I might have transferred solely because of the amount of harassment that seems to be taking place on the campuses. What is funny to me is that the student body seems to be fully aware of the brainwashing-like tactics, and yet these tactics of the big investment firms continue to work. The extravagant dinners, the lavish trips, and the promise of being able to continue competing at a top level in the real world after college must surely be hard to resist, but if the student body knows this is all a ploy why do the continue to drink the kool-aide. Even if you go to one of these brand name universities and attempt a career on Wall Street, you would have to recognize how miserable the conditions are going to be, and the odds of actually getting a hired position are astronomically stacked against you.
From the Wall Street perspective I can empathize with wanting to be selective of who joins the firm. However, making selections for hire based on ethnicity and sex is a) illegal b) immoral and c) severely cuts down on the company's ability to find the perfect candidate for the job. There is obviously still much work to be done in America when it comes to tearing down these barriers.
"Smartness." What a crock. The word is a wonderfully designed catchphrase that seems to be successfully enticing young and naive minds into unknowingly putting on a dog and pony show for these monstrous investment banks. What is so genius about the catchphrase is it's ability to mask the fact that the recruiters aren't really after an individuals knowledge at all. These companies are solely invested in maintaining their "good ol' boys club." This club just happens to be in control of America's national economy, as well as playing a colossal role in the global economy.
It was amazing to read about the recruitment processes that take place at these select universities. If I were just ever soooo lucky to be a student at one of these ivy league universities, I think I might have transferred solely because of the amount of harassment that seems to be taking place on the campuses. What is funny to me is that the student body seems to be fully aware of the brainwashing-like tactics, and yet these tactics of the big investment firms continue to work. The extravagant dinners, the lavish trips, and the promise of being able to continue competing at a top level in the real world after college must surely be hard to resist, but if the student body knows this is all a ploy why do the continue to drink the kool-aide. Even if you go to one of these brand name universities and attempt a career on Wall Street, you would have to recognize how miserable the conditions are going to be, and the odds of actually getting a hired position are astronomically stacked against you.
From the Wall Street perspective I can empathize with wanting to be selective of who joins the firm. However, making selections for hire based on ethnicity and sex is a) illegal b) immoral and c) severely cuts down on the company's ability to find the perfect candidate for the job. There is obviously still much work to be done in America when it comes to tearing down these barriers.
It is indeed very interesting to see how a particular culture of a sector of the economy - Wall Street - is being cultivated, enculturated in college campuses. Ho does a great job at laying out an ethnography of this kind of enculturation. In addition to highlighting how certain forms of exclusion are institutionalized (the gendered and racial forms of discrimination that you note) these two chapters in particular should made us reflect upon the types of enculturation that takes place in college campuses more generally. more in class...
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