See, a PhD in the humanities does pay

Mar 29, 2006 14:25

From http://www.slate.com/id/2138486/ :

As Susan Hirshman, managing director and wealth strategist at JPMorgan Funds, notes, "to serve [the wealthy], we have to understand the underlying person and what his or her value system is."

Which brings us to Larry Samuel, who aims to do for the American wealthy what Margaret Mead did for the Samoans. He is the anthropologist of plutocrats. Samuel, who has a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Minnesota, runs a market research firm, Culture Planning, that studies the rich on behalf of JPMorgan. Samuel and his researchers examine the habits and behavior of the rich in their natural habitats and reach conclusions based on close observation and thick description. Today, after all, being affluent isn't just a matter of assets, it's a matter of lifestyle.

[added] And, relevant to my icon above, the following:

Such archetyping is a fun enterprise. Most anthropologists conduct research while living in a hut in rural Indonesia. Samuel and a group of stringers fan out into markets thick with millionaires and take notes. When I spoke to Samuel this morning, he was in the field-in Miami: "There's a DJ and hip-hop conference going on here, and there's lots of bling, I've seen several Rolls Royces."

[added] not completely sure if this makes me want to laugh or vomit.  If I laughed it would probably be a knowing "heh."  If I vomited it wouldn't be that hard to clean up.

academia, news

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