The past two decades have seen the idea of internationalization move into the mainstream of higher education policy and practice, on a global scale. In countries like the US and UK however, higher education is widely perceived as a hierarchical field, where high- and low-status universities are differentiated from one another: serving different kinds of students, offering different kinds of degrees, and funneling students into different tiers of the labor market. Hence, this study examines internationalization through the lens of this differentiation, adopting a field perspective to query how social status and organizational standing have shaped this wave of change. The study is based primarily on 75 semi-structured interviews with university personnel from eight organizational cases: four high-status, selective "elite" universities, and four low-status, unselective, "broad-access" universities, which were drawn equally from the US and UK. Across these cases, the study finds variation in internationalization to be patterned transnationally between universities in different social positions. Two "new elite" universities, unburdened by a long-term legacy of prestige, have responded boldly to the internationalization imperative, enacting changes in areas like study abroad, international student recruitment, and global branding. In contrast, two universities with a longer legacy of prestige have been reluctant to engage in internationalization, changing more selectively. Despite having some passionate advocates for these changes meanwhile, four broad-access universities have faced numerous constraints to fully mimicking these organizational trends, not least of which is the view by some of their personnel that internationalization is ancillary to their core missions. Building off scholarship in the fields of cultural and organizational sociology, this study contributes new understanding of the mediating power of social status as active in the mindsets of university personnel, and as an organizing logic in higher education both within and between universities, as well as both domestically and globally. Throughout, the study highlights the value of systematic qualitative research and of comparative, contextual case studies, and foregrounds analysis of the structural nature of mass higher education. Although it has perhaps been unintentional, the study contends that internationalization has become a form of social distinction for universities and their students alike. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]