GENTILITY, GENDER AND POLITICAL PROTEST - THE BUSH,BARBARA CONTROVERSY AT WELLESLEY-COLLEGE

Using 452 letters sent in 1990 to Wellesley College over a student pet ition objecting to the choice of Barbara Bush as the graduation speake r this article explores how an attempt to expand the boundaries of eli te women's political behavior created a cultural and symbolic battle t hat centered upon the content of education, women's ''manners'' and ci vility, and their implications for elite women's participation in the broader Hobbesian social contract for citizenship. The article demonst rates that social class in its gendered from is essential to understan ding the construction of citizenship.