This article is composed of highlighted quotes from an interview with an anonymous Bowdoin student. It is a detailed look into one Bowdoin student’s thoughts on wealth and its impact on their lives. It is color-coded by theme. Blue represents the development of the wealth stigma based on one’s previous and current friend groups and environments. Red represents the perception of material goods and actions as symbols of wealth and the conclusions drawn from that information. Purple represents the notion that wealth is a challenging and uncomfortable topic that people avoid, due to its stigmatization.
“[Wealth is] just a topic that no one ever speaks of or wants to discuss just because I do feel like it is such a sensitive topic because we don’t want to say the wrong thing and then offend somebody, which I feel like goes along with a lot of other social issues. I don’t think I’ve ever really discussed seriously with somebody about wealth and status.”
“I went to a private, high school outside Boston, and you could definitely see wealth in people a lot more easily. It’s the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, or even just their backpacks. Some people go out of their way to look rich and wealthy. One of the first things I realized is that there are definitely a lot of wealthy people at Bowdoin, and everyone knows that, but I do think they hide that way better.”
“You’d see a bunch of people posting pictures from literally any vacation place you can think of; the most crazy places doing crazy things.”
A loaded question: “What are your plans for spring break?”
“I honestly think the biggest way people show off at Bowdoin is through the Canada Goose jacket or another expensive fancy type of jacket. But, it’s not really different from what I had seen in the past.”
“During spring break, for some of my friends it would be really easy to just hop on a plane and go to the Bahamas but for other people in our friend group, it is not really possible.”
“[Wealth is] a topic that I don’t really talk about. It’s not like I don’t want to talk about it, I just never really talked about it just because I do think I’m somebody with a higher socioeconomic class, and so I just don’t want to say anything unintentionally that would be hurtful or cross lines.”
“Wealth is such a prevalent part of our identity, especially at a college, any college campus. [At college,] you have people coming from all over with different backgrounds and experiences. I think ideally, yes, we would love to be able to talk about this openly and honestly. But it’s just a topic that I think will always be stigmatized, just because it is such a big part of someone’s identity for some people. It’s a sensitive topic.”
“I don’t think people get that much out of forced conversations because you can’t really force people to talk about something [and expect them to be] fully involved in it. If we are going to make an attempt to destigmatize this, it has to come from the students ourselves. And it has to be voluntary; everybody has to be on the same page. Because if the school gets involved and we have mentoring talks and discussions – I just don’t think it’s that beneficial.”
“[I associate wealth with] student athletes, like squash and lacrosse.”
“My two closest friends are coming from a very different background as me. And so I think I credit Bowdoin entirely for that.”
“I feel like more interaction and honest conversation is the best way to continue to destigmatize this.”
“Once you find out about somebody’s background or socioeconomic class, you start to naturally connect stereotypes about them. And that inhibits your ability to fully get to know them honestly. If someone says they’re very wealthy, I automatically assume, ‘Oh preppy, stuck up.’ So I think it does hurt our ability to really get to know people.”
“I don’t think [having wealth is] a problem as long as you don’t go out of your way to make other people look inferior to you.”
“This is really the first time I’ve had an open discussion about wealth, even though this was an interview format. But yeah, I’d say in general, for the most part, I was pretty comfortable.”