Word: riesmans
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PROFESSOR David Riesman and Christopher Jencks have recently published a study in general praise of the system. They observe that the inequalities of the Gold Coast days seem to have disappeared, but offer no statistics to show whether people of varying backgrounds really talk to each other quite as much as theory assumes. And it might be noted that the democratic achievement of the Thirties is not proof of a sustained, progressive system...
Actually, most of Riesman and Jenck's arguments in defense of the system can be reversed and used in criticism of it. For example, the very process that throws a sophomore among new acquaintances also cuts him off from all but the closest of his freshman year friends...
...matter of House stereotypes can also be argued both ways. While there is considerable doubt of any substantive basis for them, the fact remain many freshmen at least take them into consideration when choosing a House, and in some cases weigh them quite heavily. Moreover, as David Riesman and Christopher Jencks have pointed out in a forty-page study of the Houses, even if no stereotypes existed, freshmen would probably create them in order to justify a choice for which they have no other justification. Stereotypes that lack meaning and reality can't hurt anyone, claim the defenders...
...more improbable of these critical assumptions make Salinger the fictional counterpart of David Riesman assessing American society. Others claim he is writing an American epic. And the procession goes on, in almost unlimited diversity...
...contrast, a study of Harvard Hoses made several years ago by David Riesman and Christopher S. Jencks '58 aroused considerable resentment from the Masters...