White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) is a sociological term which is often used to describe white Protestant Americans of Northwestern European descent, who are generally part of the white dominant culture or upper-class and historically often the Mainline Protestant elite.[2][3] Historically or most consistently, WASPs are of British descent, though the definition of WASP varies in this respect.[4] WASPs have dominated American society, culture, and politics for most of the history of the United States. Critics have disparaged them as "The Establishment".[5][6] Although the social influence of wealthy WASPs has declined since the 1960s,[7][8][9] the group continues to play a central role in American finance, politics, and philanthropy.[10]
"WASP" redirects here. For other uses, see WASP (disambiguation).WASP is also used for similar elites in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.[11][12][13][14] The 1998 Random House Unabridged Dictionary says the term is "sometimes disparaging and offensive".[15] Anglo-Saxon refers to people of English ancestry; however, some sociologists and commentators use WASP more broadly to include all White Protestant Americans of Northwestern European and Northern European ancestry.[16][17]
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Allen, Irving (1990). Unkind words: ethnic labeling from Redskin to WASP. New York: Bergin & Garvey Distributed to the trade by National Book Network. 978-0-89789-220-9. OCLC 21152778.
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Baltzell, E. Digby (1958). Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a New Upper Class.
Baltzell, E. Digby (1987). The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & caste in America. Yale UP.
Beckert, Sven (2003). The monied metropolis: New York City and the consolidation of the American bourgeoisie, 1850–1896.
Beran, Michael Knox. "Five Best: Books on WASPs" ; 3 novels and 2 autobiographies
Wall Street Journal July 9, 2021 online
Beran, Michael Knox. WASPS: The Splendors and Miseries of an American Aristocracy (Pegasus Books, 2021)
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Brooks, David (2010). : The new upper class and how they got there.
Bobos in paradise
Burt, Nathaniel (1999). The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy.
Davis, Donald F. (1982). "The Price of Conspicuous Production: The Detroit Elite and the Automobile Industry, 1900–1933". Journal of Social History. 16 (1): 21–46. :10.1353/jsh/16.1.21. JSTOR 3786880.
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Farnum, Richard (1990). "Prestige in the Ivy League: Democratization and discrimination at Penn and Columbia, 1890-1970". In W. Kingston, Paul; S. Lewis, Lionel (eds.). The high-status track: Studies of elite schools and stratification.
Foulkes, Nick (2008). High society : the history of America's upper class. New York, NY: Assouline. 978-2-7594-0288-5. OCLC 299582900.
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Fraser, Steve (2005). Ruling America : a history of wealth and power in a democracy. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 0-674-01747-1. OCLC 434595715.
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Friend, Tad (2009). Cheerful money : me, my family, and the last days of WASP splendor. New York: Little, Brown and Co. 978-0-316-00317-9. OCLC 310097122.
ISBN
Fussell, Paul (1992). . Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-79225-1. OCLC 27141367.
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System
Ghent, Jocelyn Maynard; Jaher, Frederic Cople (1976). "The Chicago Business Elite: 1830–1930. A Collective Biography". Business History Review. 50 (3): 288–328. :10.2307/3112998. JSTOR 3112998. S2CID 144151969.
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Hood, Clifton (2016). In Pursuit of Privilege: A History of New York City's Upper Class and the Making of a Metropolis.
Ingham, John N. (1978). The Iron Barons: A Social Analysis of an American Urban Elite, 1874–1965.
Jaher, Frederic Cople, ed. (1973). The Rich, the Well Born, and the Powerful: Elites and Upper Classes in History.
Jaher, Frederick Cople (1982). The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Chicago, Charleston, and Los Angeles.
Jensen, Richard (1973). "Family, Career, and Reform: Women Leaders of the Progressive Era". In Michael Gordon (ed.). The American Family in Social-Historical Perspective. pp. 267–80.
Lee, Erika. America for Americans a history of xenophobia in the United States (2019)
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Kaufmann, Eric P. (2004). The rise and fall of Anglo-America. Harvard University Press.
King, Florence (1977). WASP, Where is Thy Sting?.
Konolige, Kit and Frederica (1978). The Power of Their Glory: America's Ruling Class: The Episcopalians. New York: Wyden Books. 0-88326-155-3.
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McConachie, Bruce A. (1988). "New York operagoing, 1825–50: creating an elite social ritual". American Music. 6 (2): 181–192. :10.2307/3051548. JSTOR 3051548.
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Maggor, Noam (2017). Brahmin Capitalism: Frontiers of Wealth and Populism in America's First Gilded Age. Harvard UP.
Marty, Martin E. "Ethnicity: The Skeleton of Religion in America." Church History 41#1 (1972), pp. 5–21. , emphasis on WASP role
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Ostrander, Susan A. (1986). Women of the Upper Class. . ISBN 978-0-87722-475-4.
Temple University Press
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Phillips, Kevin (2002). Wealth and democracy : a political history of the American rich. New York: Broadway Books. 0-7679-0534-2. OCLC 48375666.
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Pyle, Ralph E. (1996). . Praeger. ISBN 978-0-2759-5487-1.
Persistence and Change in the Protestant Establishment
Salk, Susanna (2007). A Privileged Life: Celebrating WASP Style.
Schatz, Ronald W. "The Barons of Middletown and the Decline of the North-Eastern Anglo-Protestant Elite." Past & Present, no. 219, (2013), pp. 165–200. loss of control of Middletown, Connecticut in late 1930s.
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Schrag, Peter. (1970). The Decline of the WASP. NY: Simon and Schuster.
Story, Ronald (1980). The forging of an aristocracy: Harvard & the Boston upper class, 1800–1870.
Synnott, Marcia (2010). The half-opened door: Discrimination and admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900–1970.
Wald, Eli. "The rise and fall of the WASP and Jewish law firms." Stanford Law Review 60 (2007): 1803–1866.
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Williams, Peter W. (2016). Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression.
. Encyclopedia of Chicago.