《汤姆·沃尔夫长篇社会小说研究：时代格局变迁下的个人地位追求（英文版）/外国文学研究系列》以沃尔夫的三部长篇社会小说《虚妄的篝火》《完整的人》和《我叫夏洛特·西蒙斯》为研究对象，分别着眼于美国20世纪80年代纽约的种族政治，90年代南方迪克西文化传统的没落和21世纪盛行于美国校园的拍拖文化，探讨了三个十年里美国政治面貌和文化精神的变迁，及不同时期场域下各种社会资本的博弈以及权力地位的依附元素。

《汤姆·沃尔夫长篇社会小说研究：时代格局变迁下的个人地位追求（英文版）/外国文学研究系列》：
Florence in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance produced great wealth， great art， and great literature. Its factionalized politics also produced civil strife and bloodshed. Here Wolfe also portrays modern New York as a battleground of factions where the Enlightenment ideals of "equal justice under law" are abandoned. However the irony is that what emerges to dominate this battleground instead is identity politics； privilege is no protection to the white group any more and the previously marginalized become the most powerful.
The power structure seems to have no deference for wealth or position. The central character McCoy's social status only makes him a better target. The police and prosecutors， on the other hand， cower before the mob backed up by moral superiority and political correctness. There is no way for most white politicians to confront the black leader Reverend Bacon directly， even though Bacon is himself suspected to be financially corrupt. With a mob and a press behind him， Bacon can make the holders of power do whatever caters to his interest. He does not need to be entitled as "Duke"， as Lorzeno de Medici or Savonarola was， in order to rule over. As he explains， institutions and the government "deal with him not to achieve their announced ends， but for steam control" （Bonfire 150）. They cooperate with him for fear of an uprising， either in the streets or at the polling booths during election period.
Living in the aftermath of Civil Rights Movement and the heyday of Black power， the white men， indulging in their assumed privileges， are slowly losing control. How come the real power has been turned over to the hand of the marginalized and to the extent that current possessors of political power ignore principles of neutral justice and unite with the mob in McCoy's case? This chapter will analyze the competition among different forces of the New York Society in their quest for status and power through Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social stratification， habitus and different forms of capital.
Starting from the role of economic capital for social positioning， the preeminent French sociologist and culture critic Pierre Bourdieu extends the idea to other categories such as social capital， cultural capital and symbolic capital， focusing on the dynamics of power relations in social life. For him， each individual occupies a position in a multidimensional social space； he or she is defined not only by the social class they come from， but by every single kind of capital he or she can use or sometimes abuse through social interactions （Swartz 7）. In Bonfire， Wolfe delineates clear status details for each character so readers can instantly tell from those signifiers the social position attached to them.
Bourdieu bases his theoretical framework on works of many established scholars before him， incorporating much of traditional anthropology and sociology to form his own theory. From Max Weber， he carries on the importance of symbolic systems in social ife； from Karl Marx， he inherits the conception of society as the sum of social relationships， which exist independently of individual consciousness， and develops the theory further forward by reconciling the influences of both external social structures and subjective experience on the individual. Wolfe's work echoes with Weber and Bourdieu's theory by indicating the enormous influence the society could have upon a single being and the key role social relationships could play， and like Bourdieu， he also realizes the subjectivity an individual could have independent of socially-validated values. When McCQY is stripped of all the material belongings and cut off from Wall Street， he is transformed and comes out as a different human being.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
A． Tom Wolfe as a Journalist and Novelist
B． Social Status as Wolfe's Major Concern

Chapter 2 The Bonfire of the Vanities—— A Bourdieuian Analysis of the Shifting Power Dynamics in 1980s New York
A New York City in the 1980s
1． Racialized Economy and Reaganomics： Growing Disparity between White and Black
2． Master City Builder Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
3． South Bronx Decay： Demographic Shift and Highway Incursion
4． Misleading Media Report Intensifying Racial Conflict
B． Characters' Quest for Social Status： Use and Abuse of Different Forms of Capital
1． Social Stratification and Individual Habitus
2． Quest For Economic Capital Fueled by the "Bonfire of Vanity"
3． Social Capital Conferring Power and Status
4． Symbolic Capital Exercising Violence： Political Correctness and Moral Superiority
C． Inheritance of and Transcendence over Naturalistic Writing
1． The City Itself Becoming the Displaced Source of Anxiety
2． Comparison with Dreiser's Naturalist Novel Sister Carrie

Chapter 3 A Man in Full—— Southern Cultural Drift as Shown in the Case of Its New Center， Atlanta
A． Shifting Power Dynamics in the New South
1． Rising Economic and Political Influence of the African Americans in the South
2． Dixie Tradition on the Skids
3． Atlanta， a Rising International City in the New South
4． Social Division of the Atlanta Society by "Identity Politics
B． The Triad of Male Characters' Quest for Status． Vibrancy of Atlanta's Material Culture and Spiritual Malaise Coexisting with It
1． Charlie Croker's Struggle to Retain Manhood in a Veblenian Society
2． Conrad Hensley： Messenger of Epictetus in a Panopticon
3． Roger White： Black Bourgeoisie Torn by Racial Identity Crisis
C． Cultural Drift， the Old South Giving Way to the New Atlanta of Ambition and Lust
1． Sexual Revolution and Subjugation of Women as Trophies
2． Social Corruption and Discourses of Political Correctness Blighting the South
3． Proclaimed Realist Writer Verging on Postmodernism

Chapter 4 I am Charlotte Simmons—— Self Caught in the Hooking Up Culture
A． Hooking Up Culture in the New Millennium
1． Youth at the End of the Century
2． Post-feminism and Active Girlhood
3． Pressure From Peer Influence and Collective Behavior
4． Consuming Youth and Gender in Popular Culture
B． Charlotte's Pursuit for Status： Free Will Succumbing to Prevailing Values on Campus
1． Status System on Campus： a Chimp Colony with Alpha Males
2． Free Will Against A Neuroscientific Understanding of Self
C． Wolfe Losing Faith in Nietzsche's Overman

Chapter 5 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index