Annette Lareau's Unequal Childhood

Describe Jeannette’s childhood, specifically her socialization or the process by which she acquired family values, information about social expectations, and survival strategies.

The PBS Frontline documentary “Two American Families”, produced by Bill Moyers, follows two middle class families in Milwaukie, one black and one white, for over a decade as they struggle to achieve the “American Dream”. This documentary mirrors the struggle of so many American families who work hard and play by the rules, yet fall victim in a struggling economy to a series of policy decisions made. The hand of policy ineffectively steered the lives of the two families featured, the Neumann’s and Stanley’s, despite their hard work ethic and sincere determination to succeed. Many policy implications played a role in the documentary, including those around education, institutional racism, taxation, overseas jobs

In a social context, it can be observed that children will follow the direction of other children (Harris) and will learn how to act in a society (Harris). They also tend to stay within the same peer group and that is why moving a lot can cause problems in different aspects (Harris). Theses example help Judith prove her point that peers have a much larger influence on a child’s development then

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

Jay MacLeod in his ethnographic study “Ain’t No Makin’ It” indicates how education can play a pivotal role in reproducing class inequality over generations. He does so through analysis and observation of two groups of young men. The first group self-titled the “Hallway Hangers” are mostly made up of white youth, while the second group labeled the “Brothers” are chiefly comprised of young black men. The Hallway Hangers defy American Achievement Ideology, which suggests that success can be achieved through hard work, and do not believe that their schools could provide opportunities for success. In contrast, the Brothers seemed to really care about the education they receive.

The number of two-parent African American households is dissolving. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the black family has declined from 80% in 1890 to 39% in 1990. The result of conflict, and warring souls in the African American community, this trend can be stopped and reversed. The African American family must first gain an understanding of what is causing this dissolution, then they can be taught about what principals and skills they must adapt in order to reverse it. Once this is accomplished, the black family must be given opportunities to share this information. By taking these steps, two-parent African American families would once again be prevalent in the United States.

Childhood is an important time in a person’s life, a time where one can be carefree and do as they please without having to worry about what others think of them. During this stage of life, children are groomed and prepared for the transition between childhood and adulthood to be as smooth as possible. However, in Heather O’Neil’s novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, Baby throws herself into the adult world without giving any second thought or even having the proper knowledge to survive or even to manage herself. This causes her to follow the wrong paths and trust the wrong people. Baby grows wise beyond her years, and soon becomes stuck in the middle of the two worlds, as she is too young for the adult world but too old for the child world. This traps her with her having nowhere else to go except continue on the path she is already heading. Baby’s loss of innocence at such a young age showcases that one cannot properly mature and be ready for the future without having a stable childhood. This loss is shown through Jules’ lack of parental ability, her exposure to the adult world at a young age, and her struggle with herself. Adding all three together causes damage to Baby that no one should experience.

While living in a first-floor apartment on the South Side of Chicago, Bray was one of most African American children to be raised on welfare. Through much darkness in Bray’s adolescence, her mother was perceived as a symbol of light. Her mother’s nurturing nature, spiritual hymns and voice of reason was a sense of security for Bray. As a family trying to make ends meet, Bray was surrounded by fear and uncertainty. Even the difference of losing a nickel could consume her with “the feeling of terror” as “it was not just the fear of getting a beating for losing the money. It was the anticipation of my mother’s disappointment…” (pg.14). Even desperation consumed a bright girl like Bray to sneak money from carelessly left wallets around school. As a young girl, Bray’s parents wanted to fight back the poverty and ignorant lifestyle that followed them. Bray’s early passion for reading along with her parents strict rules gave her the endurance to succeed. With the acceptance of a scholarship from Yale University, Bray was in the top percent of blacks to have been given this opportunity. The expectation of a family on welfare usually prohibited this sort of positive fortune she received. Yet, Bray demonstrated her achievement of contributing to a cultural understanding to all generations on welfare, that being raised on very little served as no reason to be misheard or misrepresented as a

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.

   Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the

The article “Television, Black Americans, and the American Dream” explained how Black Americans have been represented in the media and television. The media has shifted our understanding of racial inequality away from a structured process. This makes it seem as though racial inequality is “natural and universal rather than as result of social and political struggles over power” (Gray, p. 431). This is illustrated in the CBS News documentary The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America by following the lives of underclass, single parents. It highlights drugs, riots, and teenage pregnancy to show that

African Americans have come a long way in the last few decades. We have more rights, more opportunities to grow and prosper and more independence than ever before. But the same cannot be said for African American families as a whole. The African American family and community is in trouble (Tilove, 2005). These families are facing many issues today that are contributing to their break down. These factors include poverty, diminishing health, welfare, incarceration, the struggle to find housing and the challenges involved with providing children with higher education. The disintegration of families have gone on for too long and it’s time we do something about it (“Current Challenges”, n.d.).

Race and class can play powerful roles in people’s family experiences. Race is defined as a socially constructed category of individuals who share common inborn biological traits (Newman 2009). Class is defined as groups of people who share a similar position in society based on their wealth and income (Newman 2009). Social class and race shape family lives in many ways, which in return reproduces class and race inequalities. In Annette Lareau’s study of families, she uses real stories of real families to show important social patterns.

The third controlling image of Black womanhood is that of the welfare mother, which is linked to Black women’s increasing dependence on the welfare state (Collins, 76). This time, the punishment is for failing to work. Rather than being a bad mother for deserting the children, now the concern is being with the children too much and not working. Again, by pinpointing the Welfare Mother as the cause,

Barbara’s parents were both in their middle forties when she was born. Growing up, Barbara’s mother was very protective and controlling towards her. As a child, she would never be allowed to leave the yard, have pajama parties, and attend scouting camping trips. In high school, she was not allowed to go out on school nights and on weekends; she had to be home by 10:00 pm. Even her date in her junior year was an awkward experience when she went to the movie with a boy, and her brother whom was five years older than her, had been sitting several rows behind. Their parents asked her brother to keep a close eye on them to make sure everything was going okay. Her father, on the other hand, was strong, tough-minded, police officer. Her parents were