David Brooks may not have gotten into Brown as a high school senior, but last night the New York Times columnist came to College Hill and told a packed Salomon 101 that "universities have become the engines of inequality" in America, as cultural differences increasingly determine class. Brooks' lecture was the keynote address of the 26th annual Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference themed "One Nation Indivisible? The Persistence of Class in American Culture."
President Ruth Simmons introduced Brooks as a writer "in whose books we understand much about how we think," quoting catchphrases from his 2000 book "Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There," which details the emergence of a bourgeois-bohemian class from the baby boomer generation.
"Of all the social forces that have shaped American society, I think class may be one of the most difficult to understand fully," Simmons said.
As a commentator whose column for the Times and two recent books - "Bobos" and "On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense" - often examine America's social makeup, Brooks said he believes class today rests on cultural, not economic differences.
Echoing cultural monikers from "Bobos," Brooks described the lifestyle of America's achievement-driven upper class, composed in part of "Ubermoms" and their children whose lives are geared toward the increasingly competitive college admissions process.
But beyond the entertaining stereotypes of overachievement and materialism, Brooks said this set of Americans illustrates just how much culture now defines class in America.
In an "era of human capital" where education and social environments matter more than resources, Brooks said cultural distinctions have created a "hereditary meritocratic class of highly educated people who've passed down their advantages to their kids."
Bloodlines may matter less today, but upbringing and family matter more, he said, citing work by University of Chicago economist James Heckman and sociologist James Coleman. A pure meritocracy means that an "obsessive" focus on kids and investment in obscure skills that will increase their college chances brings return, Brooks told an audience largely composed of students who emerged from the college application process themselves not too long ago.
Citing statistics to support his observations, Brooks said these "junior workaholics of America" and their parents have increased America's share in the global economy, balanced birth rates at replacement levels, raised productivity and sparked "moral repair."
Yet with these positive effects has come a new kind of inequality: "The rich don't exploit the poor, they just out-compete them," Brooks said.
"We're used to thinking about inequality as economic inequality, but to me what's really showing up here is that it's social inequality that drives everything," he said. Kicking off his case for cultural determinism, Brooks added, "Social class is what we should think about, not economic class."
As a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Cold War-era Russia, Brooks said he learned economic plans could not re-shape societies. And in contemporary America, though social reforms that treat people as "economic creatures" prove ineffective and social values dominate American politics and life, Brooks said he thinks culture is the most important lens through which Americans can understand themselves.
"We're socially embedded creatures," Brooks said. "We don't always behave the way economists say we behave."
Although Brooks said interviewing Americans across the country about their voting decisions strengthened his belief that values drive both political and economic differences, the national failure to discuss economic inequality after Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that Americans are not prepared to debate issues of class.
"I think it's because we haven't learned to talk about it in ways that don't blame people," Brooks said. "I think that's the essence of learning about class in America and finally solving these problems," he said as he concluded his talk.
But the question-and-answer session demonstrated that some in the audience hoped Brooks would go beyond a diagnosis of America's cultural class divisions.
"He didn't offer a lot in the way of prescriptions," said Katie Reisner '07, an international relations concentrator and editor-in-chief of the Brown Journal of World Affairs.
Economics concentrator Phil Wood '07 agreed, but he also said he appreciated Brooks' cultural explanation for social inequalities - a view not fully explored in any of his economics classes.
Reisner said Brooks' cultural argument was convincing, if "reductionist," as he focused largely on a particular subset of American society. After the talk, Reisner asked Brooks to respond to fellow Times columnist Thomas Friedman's assertion that "the world is flat."
"If I had the chutzpah, I wouldn't write a book called 'the world is flat,' I'd write a book called 'the world is mountainous,'" Brooks said, adding that while he is a cultural determinist, Friedman is a self-described technological determinist.
Though the question elicited laughter from the audience, Reisner said she is hesitant to accept Brooks' argument in a larger context. "He's describing this very rarefied milieu, and he's a member of this milieu ... so you have to question what ethos he has as far as commenting on the Midwest or the heartland."
Still, both Reisner and Wood said they enjoyed Brooks' talk.
Those who missed yesterday's lecture can hear Brooks this evening at 6:30 p.m. at the conference's final event, a panel discussion - "Where Are We Headed? Why and How Does Class Still Matter in America?" - led by Professor of Economics Glenn Loury in Salomon 101.
Loury, whose research has focused on welfare economics, race, and affirmative action, will be joined by Jared Bernstein, director of the Living Standards program at the Economic Policy Institute and Louisiana State Rep. Karen Carter, who represents New Orleans and has been involved in rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Brooks' keynote Michael P. Metcalf-Howard R. Swearer Memorial Lecture honors the chairman and publisher of the Journal and Brown's 15th president, respectively, who together founded the conference in celebration of the Journal's 150th anniversary.
