Wayward Elites: From Social Reproduction to Social Restoration in a Therapeutic Boarding School

Abstract

In the past few decades, a multi-billion-dollar ''therapeutic boarding school'' industry has emerged largely for America's troubled upper-class youth. This article examines the experiences of privileged youth in a therapeutic boarding school to advance social restoration as a new form of social reproduction. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork inside a Western therapeutic boarding school for young men struggling with substance abuse, I explore how students leverage a stigmatized, addict identity in ways that can restore privilege. Findings suggest that students engage in social restoration by constructing an overarching restorative narrative that works through three mechanisms: (1) experiential reframing, (2) appropriated therapeutic discourse, and (3) boundary maintenance through ''othering.'' Using these narrative strategies, students are able to transform a stigma into a symbolic marker of character that they use to reclaim privileged positions and dominant roles. This process of social restoration illuminates previously unexamined issues at the intersections of power and privilege, stigma, and inequality.

Created by god and wired to porn: Redemptive Masculinity and Gender Beliefs in Narratives of Religious Men’s Pornography Addiction Recovery

“…In turn, redemptive masculinity is both a religious practice and demonstration of men's agency (see also Clark 2010; Flores 2014). It is a therapeutic project with a goal of self-transformation and acceptance (see also Pfaffendorf 2017Pfaffendorf , 2019. But it is possible only in the context of intersecting privileges.…”

“…Our analysis shows that religious pornography addiction recovery narratives construct pornography addiction as a gendered phenomenon that serves the interests of religious men. The masculinity that these narratives construct is redemptive : explaining religious men’s pornography use, bolstering their masculine self-image, and reintegrating them into their religious traditions (see also Clark 2010; Flores 2014; Pfaffendorf 2019). We first describe how redemptive masculinity is constructed through religious and scientific schemas that explain why men become addicted to pornography.…”

“…Edward Flores (2014), for example, finds that gang recovery programs use expectations surrounding Chicano men's ability to provide for and protect their families to motivate change (see also Clark 2010). Other research finds that white boys and men, in particular, are encouraged to exhibit stereotypically feminine traits, such as emotional expression, modesty, and volunteerism (Ezzell 2012; Pfaffendorf 2017Pfaffendorf , 2019Travis 2009). Jessica Pfaffendorf (2017) refers to these as "cultural tools" that are deployed in order to construct hybrid masculinity.…”

“…Yet they simultaneously depend on and reinforce particular beliefs about gendered bodies that give advantage to the religious men who work to overcome pornography addiction. We use the phrase redemptive masculinity (see also Clark 2010; Flores 2014; Pfaffendorf 2019) to describe this type of hybrid masculinity that upholds the cultural association between hegemonic masculinity and pornography consumption, but allows religious men to describe their avoidance of pornography as a masculine feat. Their stories rely on essentialist differences between male and female bodies and assumptions about men’s sexual autonomy and agency, alongside women’s lack thereof.…”

Rehabilitasi Berbasis Pesantren bagi Penyalah Guna Narkotika sebagai Bentuk Perlindungan Hukum

“…Masalah narkotika adalah masalah bersama semua kalangan masyarakat, karena narkotika dapat mengancam masa depan dan nyawa generasi bangsa. Pondok Pesntren sebagai salah satu dari bentuk lembaga rehabilitasi atau terapi (therapeutic boarding school) sebagai bentuk baru reproduksi sosial dan pemulihan sosial (Pfaffendorf, 2019).…”