Page 102 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

86 Identity, Lifestyle, and Subculture

in the form of taxes to support poor people, a group WASPs perceived as
lacking in good attitudes toward work, during the Great Depression. That
was the case because WASPs believed strongly in the idea that one ’ s success
in life depended on personal virtues such as industriousness and thrift. A
core belief of WASP culture was that economic success was not a token of
being better connected through school and family ties but rather of being
more in possession of essential virtues that guaranteed success to those who
possessed them. WASPs were therefore also hostile to ways of thinking that
looked at society as a whole made up of interrelated parts because such
explanations (scornfully referred to as theory ) drew attention to the fact
that economic success depended on one ’ s inheritance, one ’ s connections,
one ’ s good fortune in education, and other non - personal factors. Virtue
was often in the eyes of “ theory ” an effect or result of such things as inher-
ited wealth and good social position at birth than of personal traits. One
could afford to be thrifty if one was not starving, but not if one had a family
to feed and very low income.
A typical WASP lifestyle confirmed the group ’ s beliefs. They attended

church regularly and formed a community with other like - minded church-
goers. They frequented certain kinds of cultural events that connoted “ high
culture ” such as the orchestra or the theater, and that confi rmed their sense
of possessing superior taste in cultural matters. They collectively engaged
in volunteerism and philanthropy; giving away wealth in small amounts
was perceived to be a token of virtue. But WASPs were also notoriously
exclusive. They were associated with private clubs where golf, a physically
undemanding sport for “ gentlemen, ” could be played in serene settings,
and such clubs often had rules forbidding membership by other ethnic
groups such as Jews. The ideal of personal virtue also took a toll in that it
entailed self - control and the suppression of passionate behavior that was
construed as a sign of a lack of virtue, of being too much the prisoner of
feeling rather than moral self - discipline. WASP men often therefore
appeared emotionless and even coldhearted. Perhaps as a result, hard
alcohol, which quickly loosens reserve and makes conversation easier
between reserved people, was associated with WASP business culture espe-
cially (in the form of the infamous two - martini lunch of the 1930s through
the 1960s). In the Thin Man comedies of the 1930s, one sees the self - image
of the WASP as the cutely tipsy gentleman who has had “ a few too many. ”
WASPs as a cultural group draw attention to the difference between
mainstream or dominant cultures and subcultures. Dominant cultures
usually work because they are not associated with any one group or any