David Patrick Columbia, on the people who can afford to party without working.

Question: What do you think of the socialite phenomenon?

David Patrick Columbia: Well the term “socialite” actually started in the late 1920s, late 1930s. And actually that was a result of, for the first time, younger people going out independently without having the . . . let’s say asserting themselves independently socially. Basically going to nightclubs drinking and partying. And the term “socialite” was just an easy way of saying these are people who could afford to do this without working, or didn’t have to work as much as other people and they had more time on their hands. The word “socialite” comes back to the _________ vernacular in a way that actually, it’s just kind of the same thing. It’s a way of saying these people who seem to have a lot of time on their hands have enough money to support themselves without working.

Conducted on: October 29, 2007