White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

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For other uses, see Wasp (disambiguation).

WASP is a North American sociological term, derived from an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

The term does not have a precise definition and can be used to describe greatly differing sociological groups.^[1] The WASP acronym originated in the United States in reference to white North Americans with an old money, who are alleged to form a powerful elite.^[1] Some may use the term to describe any white person who does not claim any minority affiliation, regardless of their socio-economic status or actual ancestry.^[1] However, working class whites in the U.S. are not usually referred to as WASPs, even if they are protestants of Anglo-Saxon descent.

Strictly speaking, many people now referred to as "WASPs" are not Anglo-Saxon, that is the descendants of some Germanic peoples, who settled in Britain between the 5th century and the Norman Conquest. According to some sources, Anglo-Saxon ancestry is not even dominant in England, which is generally regarded as the Anglo-Saxon heartland.^[2] Thus non-Anglo Saxon old money families in North America, such as the French Huguenot Du Pont family, the Dutch Vanderbilts and the German Astors, may be called WASPs.^[3] The word white is redundant, since all Anglo-Saxons — whether in the strict or popular sense of the term — were or are white.

The term WASP has many meanings. In sociology it reflects that segment of the U.S. population that founded the nation and traced their heritages to ... Western Europe... The term has largely negative connotations... Today... less than 25 percent of the U.S. population [is WASP]. Nevertheless they contine to... have disproportionate influence over... American institutions. The term... has become more inclusive. To many people, WASP now include most 'white' people who are not... members of any minority group. (William E. Thompson, Joseph V. Hickey; Society in Focus, 2005.[1] )

Usage of the term WASP has grown in other English-speaking countries, such as Australia, which were settled by members of similar ethnic groups. Beyond the English-speaking world, the term is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense, to refer to perceived elite social groups.

Contents 1 Usage 2 Culture attributed to WASPs 3 Usage outside North America 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Usage

The term was popularized by sociologist E. Digby Baltzell in his 1964 book The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America. However, its first recorded use was by Andrew Hacker in 1957.^[4]

The original use of WASP denoted either an ethnic group, or the culture, customs, and heritage of American Yankees. The original WASP designation also may have been intended to include persons of Dutch descent, such as the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts.

In addition to the Yankee descendants of colonial-era English immigrants, other speakers or writers have intended the term to include people with multi-generational wealth who are descended from immigrants from Scotland and Wales, who were Protestant (i.e. members of the Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Episcopal (Anglican) churches). Because these immigrants were not immediately descended from England, in modern use they are sometimes called "WISPs" instead (from the analogous "White Irish/Scottish Protestant").

Northeastern WASPs today refer to themselves as "yankees." However, this term does not apply to Canadian northeasterners.

In the South, where relatively few immigrants settled after 1860, WASP is less commonly used. In the Western United States, "Anglo" is often used to contrast white Americans of European ancestry from Hispanics. It has a broader meaning than WASP, as it includes all English-speaking Whites, no matter their religion, actual ancestry or ethnicity.

When using the term, speakers vary widely in terms of which ethnic group they mean to designate, and some even apply it to all Protestants of European descent. For that reason, use of the term WASP has broadened significantly since its first use. Some people use it to refer to any powerful elite, with little regard to actual ethnicity or religion. Others use it only to refer to an ethnic group and its culture. In the Northeast United States, it generally is used to contrast "old stock" Americans from the colonial era with the descendants of later European immigrants.

The term WASP is often used in a way which is synonymous with "The Establishment".

It is also frequently used in a derogatory fashion. In fact, many dictionaries warn the term is often "derogatory" or "insulting".

WASP is occasionally said to stand for "Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestant".

[edit] Culture attributed to WASPs

The original WASP establishment dominated the social structure of the United States ever since the country's social structure took shape in the 18th century. Legacy admission to prep schools and to large universities in Ivy League or small liberal arts colleges such as the "Little Ivies" taught habit and attitude and formed connections which carried over to the influential spheres of finance, culture, and politics. Intermarriage preserved large inherited fortunes.

Diversions such as polo and yachting marked those with sufficient wealth and leisure to pursue them. Social registers and society pages listed the privileged, who mingled in the same private clubs, attended the same churches, and lived in neighborhoods — Philadelphia's Main Line and Boston's Beacon Hill are two notable examples—governed by covenants designed to separate the well-bred from the merely wealthy.

Other communities in this genre include Manhattan's Upper East SideGreenwich, Connecticut; Middlebury, Connecticut; New Canaan, Connecticut; Darien, Connecticut; Wellesley, Massachusetts; Beverly Farms, Massachusetts; Prides Crossing, Massachusetts; West Peabody, Massachusetts; Manchester, Massachusetts; and Old Westbury, New York. By the start of the 21st century, many former WASP enclaves in the Northeast had a plurality of Catholic residents, such as Alpine, New Jersey, Manhasset, New York and Westport, Connecticut.

It was not until after World War II that the networks of privilege and power in the old Protestant establishment began to lose significance. The GI Bill brought higher education to the children of poor immigrants, and the postwar era created ample economic opportunity for a growing new middle class. Nevertheless, the WASPs remain overrepresented in the country's cultural, political, and economic élite. ^[5]

Aspects of the WASP establishment remain visible today. They are still upper middle to upper class educated Protestants, members of high society, with prep school and Ivy League educations. They are concentrated in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. However, these regions now have majority Catholic populations and are no longer exclusively WASP heartlands.

WASPs such as the Bush family were once dominant in the Republican party, particularly during the 20th Century in areas where Catholics dominated the Democratic Party. One such example was the 1952 senate election in Massachusetts between John F. Kennedy and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., where the vote broke strongly on ethnic lines. In the 21st Century some northeastern WASPs such as Howard Dean have become prominent leaders of the Democratic Party, while the Republican party leadership draws from its base of southerners, midwesterners and many ethnic Catholics.

The population of religiously active WASP's does not appear to be growing. One Episcopal Church leader was quoted in 2006 as estimating the church's national membership as 2.2 million and attributing a low birth rate to their higher level of education. ^[6].

[edit] Usage outside North America

Usage of the term WASP is growing in other English-speaking countries, such as Australia, which were settled for the most part by members of similar ethnic groups. Beyond the English-speaking world, the term is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense, to refer to perceived elite social groups.

In Australian usage, the word WASP has lost its elite connotations, and has come to have a similar meaning to Anglo-Celtic Australian. For instance, the mass murderer Martin Bryant, shortly before the Port Arthur massacre on April 28, 1996, was heard to say something like: "there are a lot of WASPS ... not a lot of Japs." ^[7]

As an example of the broadening of use, consider that in Turkey in 2002, Abdullah Gül called his fellow cadres in AK Parti, the "WASPs of this country", referring to their ethnic Turkish origins, mainstream Sunni Islam beliefs, their "enterprising spirit", which is thought to be comparable to the Protestant work ethic and the party's moderate line, compared to Islamist ideologies.

[edit] See also

• Boston Brahmin
• Preppy
• Social Register
• Yankee

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Allen, Irving Lewis: Unkind Words: Ethnic Labeling from Redskin to Wasp (NY: Bergin & Garvey, 1990)
• Cookson, Peter W.; Persell, Caroline Hodges: Preparing for Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools (NY: Basic Books, 1985)
• Davidson, James D.; Pyle, Ralph E.; Reyes, David V.: "Persistence and Change in the Protestant Establishment, 1930-1992"; Social Forces, Vol. 74, No. 1. (Sep., 1995), pp. 157-175.
• Pyle, Ralph E.: Persistence and Change in the Protestant Establishment (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996)

[edit] External links

• Anglo-Saxons and Britons