Sociology 352

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Sociology 352

• The Family
• May 4, 2009
• Prof. Brines

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Social Class, Childrearing, and Family Life

• Annette Lareaus Unequal Childhoods

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Family Life is Organized by Social Structure

• Social structures regulate interpersonal
  interaction
• Can be informal and hidden, but very compelling
• Examples conversation groups at parties
  behavior at family Thanksgiving

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The Family as an Institution

• Social Institutions are social systems governed
  by norms that produce repeated patterns of
  behavior
• In this way, they are key to the reproduction of
  the social order

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Examples of Social Institutions

• Families
• Schools
• Bureaucracies
• Religious denominations
• Political parties
• Organized sports

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Family Life itself intersects w/other
institutions

• Families attend temple/church/synagogue
• Children are sent to school
• Parents work in organizations
• Families share leisure together by attending
  organized events (Mariners games, movies)

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These points of intersection vary by social class

• Certain Mainline Protestant denominations
  (Episcopalian, Presbyterian) attended by the
  upper-middle class
• Children of the elite attend prep school
• Blue-collar vs. white collar work
• World Wrestling Entertainments Smackdown vs.
  Pacific Northwest Ballets The Nutcracker.

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Lareau Families also differ in childrearing
practices

• Different sets of cultural repertoires
• 1) Accomplishment of Natural Growth
• 2) Concerted Cultivation

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Natural Growth

• Parent cares for child, but does so to support
  childs natural growth.
• Kids spend much of their nonschool time in
  unstructured play with age mates
• Playing outside, visiting friends in the
  neighborhood, watching TV.

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Concerted Cultivation

• Parents actively assess and foster childs
  talents, opinions, and skills
• This cultivation often permeates family life.
  Everyday gatherings seen as opportunities for
  further cultivation. The dinner table or daily
  commute often serve this purpose

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Wordplay at the Tallinger Dinner Table (p. 45)

• In a display of intellectual competitiveness,
  Garrett tests his brother Spencers knowledge of
  Van Gogh
• Garrett then challenges Spencer, Do you
• know what Van Gogh did? Spencer says, yes, he
  cut off his ear and sent it to a friend. Don
  (the father) chortles quietly and says, So you
  could say, he sent it ear mail! Everyone laughs
  at the pun.

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Organization of Daily Life

• Natural Growth
• Kids hang out with peers or kin. Energetic,
  boisterous play is fine.
• Concerted Cultivation
• Kids involved in many leisure activities
  orchestrated and overseen by adults.
  Self- restraint is rewarded

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Lareau Illustrative Boys Activities
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Parenting and Language Use

• NG Parents use directives Dont do that!
• Child Why not? Parent Because I said so!
• CC Child encouraged to pursue reasoning behind
  parents directives. Much bargaining between
  parent and child over constrained choice.
• Example breakfast choices.

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Parental Interventions in Institutions

• Natural Growth
• Parents depend on schools, but are suspicious of
  them. Conflict between practices at home and at
  school
• Concerted Cultivation Parents think of
  themselves as stakeholders. They are active
  critics who intervene on behalf of child.
• Example PTA involvement
• Child learns by example to adopt this role

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Consequences

• Natural Growth
• Kid learns to expect and accept constraint when
  confronting social institutions. Alienation.
• Concerted Cultivation
• Kid has an emerging sense of empowerment and
  entitlement. Learns how to see opportunities w/in
  institutional structures to get what s/he wants
  or to make change.

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These childrearing repertoires are tied to social
class

• Natural Growth Working class and poor children
• Concerted Cultivation Middle and Upper-Middle
  class
• Differences in child rearing practices are the
  mechanism that transmits advantages and
  disadvantages from parents to children

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Why Does Social Class Matter?

• Parents economic resources are behind
  differences in childrearing practices
• Activity fees, equipment, transportation, etc.
  can be sizable.
• In 1994, the Tallingers estimated the cost of
  Garretts activities at 4,000 annually, and
  that figure was not unusually high for middle
  class kids.

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Class differences in parents educational
resources

• Middle-class parents superior levels of
  education give them larger vocabularies that
  facilitate concerted cultivation, particularly in
  institutional interventions.
• Middle-class parents educational backgrounds
  give them confidence when criticizing educational
  professionals and intervening in school matters

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Class differences in the experience of adulthood

• Middle-class parents are often preoccupied with
  the pleasures and challenges of a career.
• They tend to view childhood as a dual
  opportunity
• a chance for play, and
• a staging ground for developing talents and
  skills of value later in life
• Garrett Tallingers dad thought soccer taught
  Garrett how to be hard nosed and competitive

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For the working class and poor

• the deadening quality of work and the press of
  economic shortages define the experience of
  adulthood and shape their vision of childhood.
• In Lareau, many appeared to want their kids to
  concentrate on being happy and relaxed, keeping
  the burdens of life at bay until they were older.

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Why would social class be tied to child-rearing
practices?

• Melvin Kohn Job Complexity and Adult
  Personality.
• The substantive complexity of a persons job
  affects their intellectual flexibility.
  Substantively complex jobs require a lot of
  on-the-spot