The lost cause of Southern Country Club : an ethnographic study

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This ethnographic study features a non-profit member owned country club in the Southern United States, Southern Country Club (SCC). SCC is an old guard club from the 1920s that continues to whether economic, political, and cultural changes until present day. The data includes a membership survey, 28 interviews, content analysis of archival documents, and a year of participant observation. In 1927 there were 5,500 country clubs in the United States. There were 4,400 country clubs in the US in 2009. The population of the United States has nearly tripled since the golden era of country clubs, yet the number of clubs decreases by the day. The decline of country clubs reveals the changing structural and cultural conditions that have resulted in clubs’ diminishing role in preparing elites for domination. As the rules of the hierarchy have changed so have the role of country clubs. Conspicuous consumption is effective for between-group differences, and inconspicuous consumption is more relevant for within-group differences. What does Southern Country Club reveal about elite status in the era of globalization? How has Southern Country Club evolved from a celebrated organization with purpose to an organization fraught with ambivalence and animus?