READING BETWEEN THE LINES: SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND EROTIC CAPITAL IN AMERICAN AND IRISH WOMEN’S BOOK CLUBS

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of reading and book club attendance in the lives of Irish and American women’s fiction readers who actively participate in women’s book clubs. This research used mixed methodology, including ethnographic observation, participation in book club meetings, and in-depth narrative interviews. I examined how women developed a sense of social place, increased cultural capital, and developed gendered sexual identities through reading and participation in women’s book clubs. Clear differences emerged in the different cultural contexts of each country, particularly as related to the role of reading in romantic relationships. Women in Ireland utilized reading and book clubs to develop knowledge and understanding; women in the United States were influenced to increase their status partially in order to potentially secure or retain a high-status romantic partner. At the same time, important key themes relating to social positionality and social networks, capital development, and the construction of sexuality were similar and central to women in both cultural environments. This research adds to our understanding of the sexual field by exploring the way women increased their erotic habitus outside of the sexual field for increased erotic capital within the sexual field.