The purpose of this research is to examine sociological theories related to Money, Morals, and Manners, by Michele Lamont. The plan of the research will be to set forth the fundamental thesis and assumptions of the work and explore the theoretical foundations informing it, noting how Lamont's views both derive and depart from precedent theory, and then to discuss the specific manner in which she makes use of the theories to develop those views, with reference to her research methodology. As appropriate, reference will be made to the efficacy and reasonableness of Lamont's theories and conclusions relative to her assessment of earlier theory on society and culture.
The thesis of Money, Morals, and Manners is that dominant figures of the upper-middle class define valued cultural styles and experience through identifiable cultural categories, or the "prejudices and stereotypes" that are the "supraindividual by-products of basic social processes . . . shaped by the cultural resources" available to that class (Lamont, 1992, p. 2). The principal assumption governing Money, Morals, and Manners is directly stated, "that cultural differences--the shock of otherness--will make valued cultural traits salient" (p. 2). To put all this another way, Lamont appears to be saying that the subjects of her study use elements of their knowledge, education, and experience uniquely available to them as members of their social group to make judgments about themselves on one hand and members of outgroups (i.e., not members of the upper-middle class) on the other that have the effect of erecting and maintaining attitudinal walls or distinctions (called "boundaries") between themselves and outgroups. This has the effect of defining one's own identity and that of others from one's own perspective. Individual identity experience overlaps and converges with social and institutional configurations in a way that helps to determine one-on-one behavior as well as on...