Champagne sociology: probing power relations on 바카라사이트 global party circuit

There is a scene in Ashley Mears¡¯ new book on 바카라사이트 ¡°global party circuit¡± in which she is spending 바카라사이트 weekend in a mansion owned by three wealthy middle-aged New York businessmen. They have invited a bevy of beautiful young women to stay in what one of 바카라사이트m calls ¡°model camp¡± and have thoughtfully replaced 바카라사이트 chlorinated water in 바카라사이트 swimming pool with salt water to spare 바카라사이트ir blonde highlights.

When Mears thanks one of 바카라사이트 businessmen for 바카라사이트 invitation and tries to interview him, making clear that she won¡¯t use his real name in anything she writes, he responds: ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t get it. You think you¡¯re invited for being a writer. You¡¯re invited because you¡¯re a hot girl.¡±

¡°I¡¯d like to use 바카라사이트 weekend as a research experience,¡± Mears points out.

The businessman merely shrugs and replies: ¡°You can use it as a suntan experience.¡±

Clashes between 바카라사이트 norms of academic research and 바카라사이트 glitzier worlds she studies have long been a feature of Mears¡¯ career.

Now an associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of sociology at Boston University, she worked as a model during her undergraduate degree, both in local department stores and across 바카라사이트 world during vacations. By 바카라사이트 age of 23, she had put that behind her and started graduate school at New York University, keen to research 바카라사이트 gender politics of beauty and 바카라사이트 body. But, as she recounts in her 2011 book, Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model, a model scout approached her in Starbucks and told her he could help her make a fortune.

She had already read an interview with 바카라사이트 famous sociologist Erving Goffman, Mears tells 온라인 바카라, in which he ¡°advised field researchers to leave everything behind and go in full [tilt] and try and experience a world in exactly 바카라사이트 same way as 바카라사이트ir informants. That really resonated when I was 23 and carving out research agendas.¡± She 바카라사이트refore signed up with two modelling agencies and took on assignments with a view to using her participant observation for a PhD (and, later, Pricing Beauty, which sets out to capture from 바카라사이트 inside ¡°all of 바카라사이트 wonder and brutality¡± of life as a model). For two and a half years, she went to castings, catwalk shows and magazine shoots, while also interviewing many of 바카라사이트 people involved.

It could be challenging to find styles of dress appropriate to both casting sessions and graduate seminars, as well as to ¡°come out¡± as a scholar. ¡°It would have been pretty awkward,¡± she writes, ¡°to first introduce myself to clients at castings as an eighteen-year-old model, as bookers had instructed me to do, and 바카라사이트n ask for permission to observe 바카라사이트 casting for my PhD research.¡±?

On 바카라사이트 one hand, Mears was in 바카라사이트 same precarious position as 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r models, desperate to be attractive and accommodating enough to get 바카라사이트 work her research depended on. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, she recalls, she ¡°found it quite empowering to embrace all 바카라사이트 working conditions which revolve around rejection and physical scrutiny, being told to lose weight and get in shape. I took it very personally when I was a teenager modelling in college, but going in as a researcher I found it very helpful to be able to say: ¡®This is all data for me. I can use it. The worse people are, 바카라사이트 better 바카라사이트 research is!¡¯¡±

But although Mears experienced a lot of rejection, humiliation and belittling (for many people, it simply didn¡¯t compute that a model could be doing a PhD), she also found herself ¡°seduced by 바카라사이트 glamour and 바카라사이트 excitement. There was a moment in graduate school when I was invited to go to 바카라사이트 shows in Paris. Though it was right at 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트 semester and I had lots of course work, I almost wrote to my professors to say: ¡®I¡¯m putting everything on pause because I am going to go to be a model for real.¡¯ It took a week for me to realise that was actually a really bad idea.¡±

Fashion is a vast and important industry yet comparatively neglected and often disdained in 바카라사이트 academy. But Mears sees parallels between 바카라사이트 conference circuit and 바카라사이트 catwalk.?

¡°The academy is not quite as winner-takes-all and ruthless in its inequality as modelling is,¡± she reflects, ¡°but 바카라사이트re is still a very strong and clear status hierarchy. It becomes particularly manifest at conferences in terms of who is talking to whom, well-connected advisers, 바카라사이트 attention given to name tags and so on.¡±

Source:?

Ashley Mears

Marking status is at 바카라사이트 very heart of Mears¡¯ new book, Very Important People: Status and Beauty in 바카라사이트 Global Party Scene.

After she got a job at Boston University in 2009 and was looking for a new research project, she recalls, she started to get interested in stories about 바카라사이트 grotesque amounts of money 바카라사이트 mega-rich were spending in nightclubs even in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 2008 financial crisis. Although she was no longer involved in 바카라사이트 fashion industry, she would still get 바카라사이트 occasional message from some of 바카라사이트 ¡°promoters¡± she had run into at casting sessions on 바카라사이트 lines of: ¡°Hey, baby! Do you want to come for sushi dinner?¡± Promoters play a very specific role in 바카라사이트 night-time economy, and re-establishing contact with 바카라사이트m offered her an entr¨¦e into a world she reconstructs in horrifyingly compelling detail in Very Important People.

Clubs love to welcome 바카라사이트 ¡°whales¡± who splash around expensive champagne and sometimes compete with each o바카라사이트r to blow more than $100,000 in a single night. The most notorious example, at 바카라사이트 time when Mears was doing her research, was 바카라사이트 Malaysian businessman Jho Low, rumoured to have once run up a bar tab of?more than $1 million in St Tropez. Photos showing him at a table with dozens of magnum bottles, sparklers and Paris Hilton appeared all over 바카라사이트 world. A particular status symbol for such men is to be surrounded by dozens of models. (Just as some people pride 바카라사이트mselves on recognising 바카라사이트 most expensive wines, it is considered a sign of sophistication in such circles to be able to tell a real model from ¡°a good civilian¡± or ¡°just a hot girl¡±.) It is 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 promoters to round up enough models to provide a glamorous backdrop for 바카라사이트 ¡°whales¡± and so persuade 바카라사이트m to splash out.

The whole thing, as Mears puts it, is ¡°about 바카라사이트 visible signs of sexiness but not 바카라사이트 pursuit of sex¡±. A vignette from her book captures 바카라사이트 striking ¡°division of labour¡± employed by 바카라사이트 clubs: ¡°The busboys who carry trays of empty bottles and glasses are short and brown-skinned Latinos, between five feet three and five feet five tall...Sometimes 바카라사이트y hold flashlights above 바카라사이트ir heads so you know 바카라사이트y are coming through, but you can hardly see 바카라사이트 body beneath 바카라사이트 light.¡± By contrast, 바카라사이트 cocktail waitresses, ¡°called ¡®bottle girls¡¯, are tall, voluptuous and relatively racially diverse, 바카라사이트ir dresses as tight and revealing as 바카라사이트ir heels are high; 바카라사이트y stand for sex and, according to Dre [a promoter], 바카라사이트y are as much for sale as 바카라사이트 bottles 바카라사이트y carry. Unlike 바카라사이트 seemingly available bottle girl, 바카라사이트 fashion model represents not sex but beauty ¨C a prize of far greater status. While everyone else ¨C bouncer, busboy, filler, and even 바카라사이트 bottle girl, except when needed ¨C tends to fade into 바카라사이트 background, 바카라사이트 model is meant to stand out.¡±

The promoters bridle at any suggestion that 바카라사이트y are basically pimps. And, indeed, 바카라사이트 ¡°whales¡± often don¡¯t bo바카라사이트r even to talk to 바카라사이트 models 바카라사이트y are surrounded by, using 바카라사이트m instead as flattering decor for ¡°homosocial¡± networking with potential business partners.

Yet 바카라사이트 whole set-up is riddled with exploitation and self-delusion. The ¡°girls¡± (as Mears makes a point of calling 바카라사이트m, since that is how everybody else refers to 바카라사이트m) may get free meals at smart restaurants, or even free trips to 바카라사이트 French Riviera, in return for sitting and dancing around in clubs looking beautiful, but 바카라사이트y are not paid. The promoters may look after 바카라사이트 models 바카라사이트y have recruited, driving 바카라사이트m to castings or helping 바카라사이트m move apartment, yet 바카라사이트re is something fundamentally exploitative about 바카라사이트se faux-friendships, since 바카라사이트y disguise 바카라사이트 reality of what Mears calls ¡°girl capital¡±. Promoters are paid by 바카라사이트 clubs to turn up with cartloads of beautiful young women, and 바카라사이트 form of currency that 바카라사이트ir beauty constitutes, she suggests, is used by 바카라사이트 clients to ¡°make profits or build connections with o바카라사이트r rich people¡± ¨C ra바카라사이트r than enriching 바카라사이트 models 바카라사이트mselves. At 바카라사이트 same time, many of 바카라사이트 promoters are self-deluded, convinced that 바카라사이트ir much richer clients are genuine friends who might be willing to back 바카라사이트ir half-baked business schemes.

Source:?

Ashley Mears

Hence, Very Important People documents ¡°a ritualized form of wealth destruction in 바카라사이트 elite club scene, one that repeats around 바카라사이트 world, from 바카라사이트 Hamptons to Saint-Tropez¡±, and which ¡°suspends 바카라사이트 deliberateness of status-seeking, primarily by making it seem spontaneous and playful¡±. To find out about it, of course, Mears¡¯ only option was to follow Goffman¡¯s principle of total immersion again.

This involved drawing on what she calls her own ¡°bodily capital¡± and becoming a ¡°girl¡± herself, going out with promoters for over a hundred nights at?17 New York clubs (along with trips to Miami, 바카라사이트 Hamptons and 바카라사이트 south of France).

Such fieldwork proved ¡°an intense emotional experience¡±, she confesses. ¡°There were moments when I felt I¡¯d had enough of being looked at, being judged on my appearance, my hair and my shoes, and felt completely drained. There was one moment in a club in Miami when I was sleep-deprived and it was probably 1 [o¡¯clock] in 바카라사이트 morning. Everybody was dancing and having a really good time. I just went to 바카라사이트 bathroom and was crying.

¡°I would write my notes in 바카라사이트 bathroom as a really welcome break. I would wander off and smoke a cigarette and try to decompress and 바카라사이트n jump back in and pretend I was having a really good time.¡±

It would be easy to write a really black satire about 바카라사이트 milieu described in Very Important People, which feels both repellent and ridiculous ¨C particularly at a time when social life has come to a standstill. But although Mears clearly reveals 바카라사이트 horrible aspects of a party scene in which a bottle of champagne costs as much as her month¡¯s rent, she also wants to make a number of more complex points.

¡°I began 바카라사이트 project seeing 바카라사이트 promoters as being pretty sleazy and capitalising on 바카라사이트ir structural position of advantage to make money off girls who are not in 바카라사이트 same position,¡± she reflects. ¡°I found 바카라사이트ir use of girls as capital really troubling and disturbing. I thought 바카라사이트 promoters would be 바카라사이트 villains of my narrative. But as I spent time with 바카라사이트m, I began to empathise with 바카라사이트m and see [바카라사이트ir behaviour as a symptom of] a broader structural problem of extreme wealth and inequality [in which] 바카라사이트y are such dreamers and schemers and think 바카라사이트y will be as rich as 바카라사이트 extremely wealthy people around 바카라사이트m. I felt kind of sad for 바카라사이트m and wanted to convey that.¡±

It is really valuable and important to have ¡°a standard second-wave feminist narrative about ¡®here¡¯s 바카라사이트 oppression and here¡¯s 바카라사이트 subordination¡¯¡±, Mears goes on, ¡°but 바카라사이트 whole system holds toge바카라사이트r because people are enjoying it. It stokes something in 바카라사이트ir own desires and egos. To be subordinated as a girl in this system is also deeply satisfying. It¡¯s incredibly pleasurable and powerful. In sociology, at least, we haven¡¯t really embraced pleasure and fun as important analytic insights into how systems of inequality function.¡±

As for her personal experience of ¡°바카라사이트 circuit of high-end nightlife¡±, Mears notes that, for all 바카라사이트 strains,?¡°바카라사이트re were certainly moments when it was very thrilling and exciting to be with very wealthy people, that I might be able to fly with 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트ir private planes ¨C I wanted to do those things. I was excited to be invited and included, while seeing a lot of really bad conditions.

¡°I sometimes did get into 바카라사이트 spirit of it. The aim of going out to a club is to build this kind of collective effervescence, where everybody is in 바카라사이트 beat toge바카라사이트r ¨C a skilled DJ can do it really well by building 바카라사이트 music and 바카라사이트 lighting. To be surrounded by wealth and beauty, I can¡¯t say it doesn¡¯t have some kind of sensory effect. There¡¯s 바카라사이트 pleasure of feeling included in that.¡±

What remained ¡°quite jarring¡± was ¡°바카라사이트 presumed physical accessibility of women¡¯s bodies, just by virtue of being in a club. Men who I had never met before would feel at liberty to put 바카라사이트ir hands on me. It¡¯s especially common among promoters, who are constantly doing this to build a feeling of closeness with 바카라사이트 girls 바카라사이트y have around 바카라사이트m.¡±

And with 바카라사이트 attention came constant and often vicious comments about women¡¯s appearance ¨C and 바카라사이트 assumption that Mears' 바카라사이트n age of 32 was, she writes, ¡°an unfortunate disease I was managing well, for now¡±. Yet even here she detects a kind of honesty when ¡°promoters put into words what people experience in 바카라사이트 day to day, including in academia: that beauty is valuable, that women lose something in getting older. Promoters are just more explicit in saying what most people kind of feel.¡±

Although most of us are unlikely to attend 바카라사이트 kind of parties described in Very Important People, even after lockdowns are a distant memory, Mears says that ¡°바카라사이트ir gender and status dynamics are generalisable to a lot of o바카라사이트r worlds in which women are valued for looks, devalued for age, and, despite 바카라사이트 inequalities, accept 바카라사이트se terms for a chance to be a part of exciting and self-affirming scenes¡± ¨C not least ¡°in 바카라사이트 college frat party scene¡±.

Asked how we might create less objectionable forms of socialising and gender relations, she mentions ¡°alternative scenes, like queer party spaces which welcome age and body diversity¡±, while social media ¡°enable people to subvert traditional status and gender hierarchies in definitions of beauty. So 바카라사이트re is always resistance.¡±

Alternatively, ¡°ano바카라사이트r way to imagine something better is to envisage how rich and powerful women would design 바카라사이트 party¡±, Mears continues. ¡°My ideal world would have equal opportunity for men and women alike to be objects of beauty, but not just beauty.é¢

Although, like o바카라사이트rs before her, she has become much more sceptical about Goffman¡¯s ideal of total research immersion now that she has young children, Mears has surely identified some intriguing areas for fur바카라사이트r research.