Class Race And Family Life By Stephen Mcnamee Lareau

One of the most prevalent themes throughout the world’s history is the dispute over race and racial differences. But, there is a problem: the majority of the population doesn’t have a clear understanding of what race is. Race is a socially constructed grouping of people that was created in order for people to differentiate themselves from one another and has many sources of influence. While most people believe race is determined by biological characteristics (hair type, skin color, eye shape, etc.), this is not true. To make things more complicated, there is no cut and dry definition to race. Authors of Race and Ethnicity in Society, Elizabeth Higginbotham and Margret Anderson, claim that there are seven different distinct ways to define race. They begin with the popular belief of biological characteristics, and, as mentioned before, through social construction. They go on to note that race can be formed from an ethnic group, from social class rank, from racial formation by institutions, and also can form from one’s self-definition (Higginbotham & Anderson, 2012, p. 13). All of these ways to define race have been seen throughout our history, and many of them have caused problems for minorities, especially in the United States.

In The Merits of Meritocracy, by David Brooks, Brooks discusses the lives of middle-class children growing up in America. He opens up with an anecdote about his daughter, to lead into one of his main points: middle-class children have busy and protected childhood, filled with many opportunities supervised by adults (193). For instance, his daughter has four different helmets for biking, pogo sticking, skateboarding, and playing baseball (193). She is a prime example of how the middle-class is presented with opportunities and busy lives; because of this, Brooks claims the general middle-class parent fears their child is too spoiled by abundance, and will never have to commit to one thing (194). Another large fear Brooks states they have, is

Concerted cultivation is a parenting style; associated with the Upper Middle class, this way of child rearing may be called privileged. Annette Lareau in Unequal Childhoods asserts that the crucial responsibilities of parenting involve eliciting children’s feelings, opinions, and thoughts. Amy Morin, A board-certified physician, studied four types of parenting, Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved. Authoritative parenting is one where clear rules are established, yet the feelings of the child are still heavily considered. A child raised with concerted cultivation typically feels entitled and is frequently exhausted. Parents that practice this type are most likely hyperactive parents, that become very involved with their child’s life. Studies show that children with

While the middle class children learn how to “play by the rules of game”, the working class children struggle with interacting with people as they never get trained to do so. That’s why the author states, “Children raised according to the logic of concerted cultivation can gain advantages, in the form of an emerging sense of entitlement, while children raised according to the logic of natural growth tend to develop an emerging sense of constraint.”

There is an overarching theme of inequality woven throughout Lareau’s study, Unequal Childhoods: class, race, and family life. The book investigates and compares the daily lives of middle class, lower class and working class families’. Using observations from two elementary schools, interviews with students and parents, and the observation of twelve homes, Lareau studies how parenting and childhood differ by social class. Concerted Cultivation is prominent in the middle-class homes, where their parents, often affecting their lives as well, organize children’s activities. Followed by Natural Growth, which focuses on children’s basic needs and offers children less supervision over their daily activities.

Poor and working-class parents were found to hold to an “accomplishment of natural growth” parental philosophy. Natural growth promotes a clear separation between children and adults, employs the use of directives, places little emphasis on the importance of verbal communication and eye contact, allows children greater independence, and promotes deference and submissiveness to adults. Inspiring and positive qualities can be found in children raised in homes exercising this perspective, qualities such

Lareau, in Unequal Childhoods, focuses on socioeconomic status and how that affects outcomes in the education system and the workplace. While examining middle-class, working-class and poor families, Lareau witnessed differing logics of parenting, which could greatly determine a child’s future success. Working-class and poor families allow their children an accomplishment of natural growth, whereas middle-class parents prepare their children through concerted cultivation. The latter provides children with a sense of entitlement, as parents encourage them to negotiate and challenge those in authority. Parents almost overwhelm their children with organized activities, as we witnessed in the life of Garrett Tallinger. Due to his parents and their economic and cultural capital, Garrett was not only able to learn in an educational setting, but through differing activities, equipping him with several skills to be successful in the world. Lareau suggests these extra skills allow children to “think of themselves as special and as entitled to receive certain kinds of services from adults” (39). Adults in the school system are in favor of these skills through concerted cultivation, and Bourdieu seems to suggest that schools can often misrecognize these skills as natural talent/abilities when it’s merely cultivated through capital. This then leads to inequalities in the education system and academic attainments.

Lareau explains how different social class: middle class, working class, and lower class have individual parenting styles to discipline their child. Using the technique of naturalistic observations, the author analyzed that the relationship of children between their families and the extrinsic world differs by their social class. Each chapter takes the reader on a journey of one child’s experiences at home and in social institutions and how different parenting styles influence a child’s life at home and in the outside world. Through her study, the author discovered significant differences between each social classes, in regards to the practices of child-rearing. Lareau explains that how distinctive practices of child-rearing in different social classes can result in social class inequality.

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).

Regardless of social class most parents wish for their children to be happy, healthy, and successful; however, parents disagree on the best way to raise their children to be all of those things, which is when social class determines the parents’ child rearing method. Whether a child comes from a working class or middle class family affects the child’s development and socialization; and consequently the child’s future.

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.

I am an Italian-American, female college student who comes from a middle-class background. My experiences have shaped a variety of beliefs that influence how I view education and how I will run my classroom as an educator.

This article states that this type of take no prisoners type of parenting cannot only have detrimental effects upon the child, but can also leave a mother wanting as Chua stated in this article that she wished that she had been less harsh on her children and that she paid more attention to the personalities of her daughters. This article seems to bring to light that though this particular type of parenting has great benefit academically it does leave a bit of a gap socially or personality wise and allowing the child to develop a sense of

class, take care of their children through concerted cultivation. They put their children in numerous activities such as club teams which control a family’s life, particularly for the mothers. The reason behind this is because parents believe these activities are important skills to learn for their children. Families also in a higher class talk to their children to discipline them. Parents in the working class and poor class apply natural growth. Many parents of the working class provide love, food, and safety anticipating their children will advance and succeed. They do not focus on developing their children's special talents. For this reason, working class children have more free time and better relationships with their extended families. Working-class and poor also use

Safeness is one of the advantages of parenting style where parents create rules like a method of protecting their children, it’s similar to providing guidance as to which is the correct path to take. Better parenting allows the parent and the child to have better relationships with their children. Parents effectively deal with difficult kids, and another one is clear goals which child is aware of what was his/her goal in the future. It also creates responsible citizens that are highly responsible citizens when they grow up. One of the disadvantages of parenting style is rebellion where children don’t get the opportunity to learn right from their mistakes. It can also create communication problems where child is afraid that his feelings, thoughts or actions might be punished, he is not as likely to share these problems with his parents. This is a can cause problem because children need to talk with their parents when they encounter problems, they can solve it within their selves. Bullying is also one of the disadvantages when strict parent typically establishes limits without empathy, children raised in a strict home often become angry and