Being More: Stress and Moral Worthiness in an Elite Private School in Ecuador

Abstract

This article examines why a group of elite students assured of their life‐chances willfully engaged with stress‐inducing school experiences. Unlike common portrayals of "stress culture" as being the result of economic uncertainty, I found that stress was viewed as a necessary prerequisite for students’ understandings of moral worthiness. I conclude by discussing how students' affective and evaluative engagements with stress are informative for broader conversations about elite socialization and social reproduction in Ecuador.