Analysis Of Annette Lareau 's Unequal Childhoods : Class, Race And Family Life

Sociologist Annette Lareau wrote Unequal Childhoods, a book that looks at the way social class affects and influences the styles of parenting within family households. Although at first glance, one might view Lareau’s book as merely that, Lareau breaks down how parenting styles differ between middle and working-class families and how certain choices may structure a child’s future. In Lareau’s study, twelve families were examined and observed using a technique known as Participant observation. This is where a researcher and their respective team, spends time observing subjects and their everyday activities. Lareau studied children, all around the age of ten, from each of the twelve families.

In “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” Jean Anyon theorizes about the role education plays in society. Anyon’s central thesis is that public schools in complex societies like our own make available different types of education experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes. Jean Anyon performs a study on different elementary schools’ where the children come from different backgrounds, the parents had different incomes, occupations, and other relevant social characteristics. The method’s Anyon used to prove her point was gathering data in classroom observations, interviewing students, teachers, principals, and district administrative staff; and assessment of curriculum and other materials in each classroom and school. After careful analysis of Anyon’s model and my personal experiences in Windham High School I can confirm that I attend a school Anyon would identify as the working class. Anyon’s model about the working class is valid. For example on the demographics, Windham High School classifys’ as working class society and most families make less than $12,000 and face financial struggles. Anyon characterizes the working class as 85% white however the majority of the working class in my community are composed of Puerto Rican, Asian or African American groups.

The book Unequal Childhoods describes observations made by Annette Lareau to shed light on the significance of social class and how it affects student’s learning. Lareau presents her observations by highlighting the two dominant ways of parenting that ultimately affect how successful students become as they transition into adulthood. These styles of parenting consist of Concerted Cultivation where parents put through kids through structured activities, and Accomplishment of Natural Growth where unrestrictive freedom and directives are exercised (20-22).

Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and

Writer Gregory Mantsios in his article “Class in America”, talks about these things, and how wide the gap is between the rich and the poor and also discusses how the rich continue to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. Mantsios gives his readers the profiles and backgrounds of three hard-working Americans, two of them are white males, whose family background as well as education played a role in their success, while the other person is a black woman who is just above the poverty line despite her work as a nurse’s aide. Through these profiles, Mantsios article shows exactly how sex, race and shows how your parental and educational background of a person can play a role in the things that you achieve. Mantsios also talks about one’s performance in school and the level of school completed can suggest whether or not class that person may belong in.

In most if not all cases, the class you are born into will determine how you will be raised, and who you will grow up to become. Whether you can speak up for yourself, if you are humble with what you have or you have a more hectic schedule or not, it all plays into what class you are from. No two childhoods are equal and Annette Lareau in her book, Unequal Childhoods explains why this is the case. I will be examining chapters four, five, and seven. These chapters examine poor and working children and teenagers and how their childhoods differ and relate to each other based on the class they were born in whether that be lower class to the poor. What can be learned from examining these three kids, Harold McAllister, Katie Brindle, and Tyrec Taylor is the advantages and disadvantages of having a childhood in the class of the poor or working class.

One of the most important things affected by class is education. People who are part of the low-income class have to overcome obstacles that people in the high-income class don't have to worry about. High-income families have access to the best private schools and tutors money can buy. Low-income families have to either settle to send their children to the assigned neighborhood school of apply to have their children bussed to better school districts. In the novel The Color of Water by James Mcbride, we meet a child named James. James and his siblings are part of

Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools is an intense expose of unjust conditions in educating America’s children. Today’s society of living conditions, poverty, income, desegregation and political issues have forced inadequate education to many children across the country. Kozol discusses major reasons for discrepancies in schools: disparities of property taxes, racism and the conflict between state and local control. Kozol traveled to public schools researching conditions and the level of education in each school. He spoke with teachers, students, principals, superintendents and government officials to portray a clear picture of the

The diverse and powerful topic of socioeconomic can be explored to develop characters and the overall theme of a story. Two literary stories in particular, “The Lesson” by Toni Bambara and “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker, have used socioeconomic status to create a second theme of self-discovery. The main characters in each of these two stories are young girls who discover their adult selves by the end. A low socioeconomic status was a part of each character’s character development in “The Lesson” and “The Stolen Party”, which ultimately forced them down a path of self-discovery. Good Start

Exploring the nuances of race and social position beginning in childhood and culminating in adulthood Lareau explores different approaches exercised by parents in raising children. Separating families into three categories, including: middle-class, working-class, and poor, the author began her study. Attempting to answer the question, “What is the outcome of these different philosophies and approaches to child rearing?” Lareau discovers that the answer was found in the “transmission of differential advantages” (Lareau 2011:5). Accordingly, these advantages equip children with tools to navigate through life progressively or prohibitively respective to the individual instruction obtained in childhood. In unearthing these discoveries, the author employed the use of ethnography through naturalistic observation utilizing field notes and taped recordings of interviews with family members.

This week’s readings are following the theme of the class, and its connection to forming a family and child rearing. There are three articles that discuss the way children are raised, the effect of marriage on the class and on the growing inequality as well as the pressure that people face due to instability in their jobs and economic life. Connecting socioeconomics and sociocentrism orientation, class and family are shown from different angles in order to understand inequalities and class divisions.

In the ethnographic study, Lareau’s main argument is that different social classes can greatly impact the way a child will be raised. Lareau and her assistants conducted an ethnographic research of twelve families from a

The type of social environment that you are born into will affect the rest of your life. Our Kids by Robert Putnam describes the lives of 20 kids around the United States and the type of social environment they had growing up. The main topic of Our Kids is how socioeconomic status relates to upward mobility and unequal opportunity in society. Previously, people from all socioeconomic classes were experiencing upward mobility during the Golden Age of Capitalism, but nowadays only the upper-middle class and the rich are experiencing upward mobility.

The constant shaming of poor parents can only create an internalized oppression. Poor parents in society “internalize classism, they come to believe that their class position is deserved, that their failure to success economically is the result of their failure to work hard enough and exert enough effort to achieve class mobility” (Launius and Hassel 87). Rios addresses this personally, as she grew up in a poor household, “we worked hard, earned our way, and made something of ourselves. The rumors weren’t true.”

All families want their children to be happy, healthy, and grow. Social classes make a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. In Annette Lareau book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she promotes middle class parents as concerted cultivation. Middle class parents encourage their children’s talents, opinions, and skills. For example, engaging their children in organized activities and closely monitoring children’s experiences in school. According to Lareau, middle class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement through this pattern of converted cultivation. This causes a focus on children’s individual development. There are signs that the middle class children gain advantages from the experience of concerted cultivation. However, the working class and poor children do not gain this advantage.