Why Elite College Graduates Are Turning to Socialism

The revolution will not be televised, perhaps, but it will most certainly have a really good résumé.

Contemporary American socialism is primarily embodied in the national cultural imagination by the Democratic Socialists of America, and its highly educated quality is often treated as evidence of hypocrisy: These revolutionaries attended such elite institutions as Bowdoin, Yale, Columbia, and so on. But the educational pedigree of the DSA’s leaders may reveal something more consequential. America has produced a large class of educated, ambitious young people whose credentials promise status and influence that the economy often fails to deliver, at least for them. The DSA offers frustrated young elites something enormous to build.

About the Author

Raleigh Adams

Raleigh Adams is a recent graduate of Yale Divinity School. Her work has appeared in the Front Porch Republic, VoegelinView, and The Dispatch.

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Democratic Socialists of America

The revolution will not be televised, perhaps, but it will most certainly have a really good résumé.

Contemporary American socialism is primarily embodied in the national cultural imagination by the Democratic Socialists of America, and its highly educated quality is often treated as evidence of hypocrisy: These revolutionaries attended such elite institutions as Bowdoin, Yale, Columbia, and so on. But the educational pedigree of the DSA’s leaders may reveal something more consequential. America has produced a large class of educated, ambitious young people whose credentials promise status and influence that the economy often fails to deliver, at least for them. The DSA offers frustrated young elites something enormous to build.