Expansion
Sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey noted the expansion of the term's coverage over time:
| “ | 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...Northwestern Europe. The term...has become more inclusive. To many people, WASP now includes most 'white' people who are not ... members of any minority group. | ” |
WASPs vary in exact Protestant denomination, from secular to mainline Protestant to Fundamentalist Protestant. High status Protestants with Northwestern and Northern European heritage are also associated with the term, such as those of German, Welsh, Scandinavian, Dutch, French Huguenot or Alsatian descent.
In recent years, another minor usage has appeared in northeastern states to refer to a fashion style or a preppy lifestyle. Nevertheless, as social, political, and economic elites are no longer fully dominated by WASPs, the term itself is gradually heard less and less. Many of the racial theories that once hypothesized an Anglo-Saxon race and categorized other groups based on religion are no longer in mainstream academic thought.
Read more about this topic: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
Famous quotes containing the word expansion:
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The fundamental steps of expansion that will open a person, over time, to the full flowering of his or her individuality are the same for both genders. But men and women are rarely in the same place struggling with the same questions at the same age.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
“Artistic genius is an expansion of monkey imitativeness.”
—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)