This book review will analyze different parts of the text Primates of Park Avenue and will discuss where Wednesday Martin succeed in proving her thesis. The author wanted to analyze the mothers of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and develop a better understanding of her peers since she experienced a change in her habitat. Wednesday Martin’s thesis argues that even the mothers that belong to the high social ranks of the Upper East Side of Manhattan show signs of basic primitive behaviors. The field study of Martin’s Primates of Park Avenue proves that perfectionist mothers of Manhattan’s Upper East Side participate in rituals and behaviors similar to their primate ancestors. This is demonstrated by showing examples of social class hierarchy
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She proved this by observing that elite higher ranking moms in the industrial environment would intimidate newcomers that wanted to join their elite social circle. According to Martin (2015), “Mother chimps who attempt to join a group of strangers are frequently subjected to harassment and harrowing physical violence by established females. Of course, nobody was out for my blood as I sought to find my place on the Upper East Side, at least not literally” (p. 9). Wednesday Martin shows the reader that while mothers may not physically attack newcomers to their social circles, they still have the intent of profiling the newcomer in such a way because they feel threatened by them. This concept of social class in this specific social circle relates to Weber’s theory of social class and how there is an emphasis on the the combination of class, status, and party in relation to one’s position in that hierarchy. In addition to an individual’s wealth, the friends, social clubs, and education of an individual are a better indicator of where they belong to the social circle than just the factor of wealth itself. Martin experiences first hand how mothers of elite social circles behave like primates in the process of trying to fit in a new social circle when she enrolls her son in a prestigious nursery school. She stated, “They gathered in the hallways in clusters and cliques, heads, bowed murmuring, laughing, whispering. They might have lifted their heads from their huddle to return my hello as I walked by—but that almost never happened” (Martin, 2015, p. 69). This excerpt from Wednesday Martin’s book further aids her in proving her claims that there are similarities in social class hierarchy between primates and humans. The mothers grouped up in packs similar to primate
She proved this by observing that elite higher ranking moms in the industrial environment would intimidate newcomers that wanted to join their elite social circle. According to Martin (2015), “Mother chimps who attempt to join a group of strangers are frequently subjected to harassment and harrowing physical violence by established females. Of course, nobody was out for my blood as I sought to find my place on the Upper East Side, at least not literally” (p. 9). Wednesday Martin shows the reader that while mothers may not physically attack newcomers to their social circles, they still have the intent of profiling the newcomer in such a way because they feel threatened by them. This concept of social class in this specific social circle relates to Weber’s theory of social class and how there is an emphasis on the the combination of class, status, and party in relation to one’s position in that hierarchy. In addition to an individual’s wealth, the friends, social clubs, and education of an individual are a better indicator of where they belong to the social circle than just the factor of wealth itself. Martin experiences first hand how mothers of elite social circles behave like primates in the process of trying to fit in a new social circle when she enrolls her son in a prestigious nursery school. She stated, “They gathered in the hallways in clusters and cliques, heads, bowed murmuring, laughing, whispering. They might have lifted their heads from their huddle to return my hello as I walked by—but that almost never happened” (Martin, 2015, p. 69). This excerpt from Wednesday Martin’s book further aids her in proving her claims that there are similarities in social class hierarchy between primates and humans. The mothers grouped up in packs similar to primate