Overview

Is the American dream that exists for the middle class equally available to the working class? Using extensive interviews with parents and a variety of data sources, this book examines how social contexts and culture affect parenting decisions. By analyzing class differences in neighborhoods, schools, and networks, as well as their relationship to mobility-related parenting practices, the authors demonstrate that cultural differences are no match for economic inequalities. They show how middle-class parents have access to social contexts characterized by security, which gives rise to what the authors call “strategic parenting”— a set of practices that allow adolescents to develop the qualities and skills they will use to go off to college and, subsequently, achieve the American dream. Conversely, the contexts of working-class parents are characterized by precarity, giving rise to “defensive parenting”—an almost frantic use of harm-mitigating interventions to protect adolescents from threats to both their well-being and prospects for mobility. This important book calls for a shift in public policy away from trying to change working-class parents to improving the social contexts in which society asks them to raise the next generation. Book Features: An explanation for social class differences in educationally relevant, mobility-related parenting practices that contrasts with the dominant cultural explanation. Research findings that are informed by a variety of data sources, including interview data, survey data, social network data, census data, and crime statistics. Two new parenting concepts—strategic parenting and defensive parenting—that capture how middle-class and working-class parents pursue social mobility for their children.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pamela R. Bennett ,  Amy Lutz ,  Lakshmi Jayaram
Publisher:   Teachers' College Press
Imprint:   Teachers' College Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.508kg
ISBN:  

9780807766026

ISBN 10:   080776602
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   29 October 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Social Contexts Matter 3 Culture, Conditions, and Constraints: Themes and Variation in Explanations for Social Reproduction 5 Defensive and Strategic Parenting: An Illustration 8 Data 11 Overview of the Book 15 1.  Worlds Vastly Different: The Neighborhood and School Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Families 21 The School Contexts in Which Middle-Class and Working-Class Children Learn 21 The Residential Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents 25 Summary 41 2.  Networks to Get Ahead and Networks to Get By 43 Measuring Social Networks 44 Class Differences in Social Network Resources 46 Class Differences in the Utilization of Social Network Resources 53 From Getting by to Getting Ahead 64 Summary 67 3.  Navigating Adolescence in Unequal Contexts 69 Vigilance Among the Working Class 69 Fostering Autonomy Among the Middle Class 79 Summary 85 4.  Opportunities to Participate: Unequal Contexts and Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation 87 Studying Parents’ Engagement With Structured Activities 89 Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation 91 Parents’ Expressed Cultural Logic 94 Schools as Equalizing Institutions 104 Financial and Institutional Constraints on Non-School Activities Among the Working Class 109 Summary 113 5.  In Search of a Good School: Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents’ Navigation of the High School Application Process 119 Universal Participation in the Application Process 121 The Middle-Class Pursuit of an Elite Public Education 123 Working-Class Parents’ Avoidance of Dangerous Schools 127 Teacher Assistance in Choosing Schools 134 Social Class Differences in High School Selectivity 137 Summary 137 6.  Unequal Contexts and Parents’ Educational and Occupational Expectations 141 Educational Expectations 142 Occupational Expectations 145 The Meaning of Adolescent “Mistakes” 154 Summary 156 7.  The American Shift to Child-Centered Parenting 161 Child-Centered Parenting 163 Summary 172 Conclusion 175 Child-Centered Parenting 175 To Strategize and Defend 177 The Privilege to Live One’s Values 180 What Can We Do? Policy Recommendations 181 Appendix A: Sociodemographic Characteristics of Sample 185 Appendix B: List of Occupations Used in the Position Generator 187 Appendix C: Selected Characteristics of Individual Study Participants 188 Appendix D: Methodology 191 Appendix E: Re-Analysis of Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation Using a Multidimensional Measure of Social Class 203 Notes 213 References 221 Index 233 About the Authors 241

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Author Information

Pamela R. Bennett is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Amy Lutz is an associate professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Lakshmi Jayaram is president of the Inquiry Research Group LLC and policy fellow in the School of Public Policy at UMBC.

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