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it's aspect of social capital: survival.
Chapter 8: Children of middle class parents (like the Marshall family) can freely express themselves without worry of being punished; children of low income families usually are told what to do and only say what won't get them into trouble. Skills are passed along to children through parents' "overseeing, criticizing, and intervening in [children's] institutional lives.
Chapter 9: Not much social capital is achieved in the Handlons' home as mother and daughter battle over Melanie's homework; Ms. And Mr. Handlon both complain about homework and how long it takes (and the fights it creates); but it seems the family is making it more difficult than it should be; Melanie may have a learning disability but the family is in denial.
Chapter 10: Wendy's mother in a working class family doesn't work with Wendy to develop language; and there is no attempt to have Wendy tested for learning problems. Her mother does whatever the teacher suggests; her mother's language skills are sketchy and hence she is not helpful to her daughter. Whatever social capital Wendy will get from school will be because she did it herself.
Chapter 11: Parenting...
"He needs to be beat," his father said. This is the kind of kid who might wind up in a prison. His social capital is going to be negligible because his parents are clueless about culture and social standards.
Chapter 12: This chapter reviews social class and points out that social inequality will always be in evidence but understanding the different social categories (poor, working class, middle class) helps social scientists define and examine American family life. In some of the families in the book, daily life didn't mirror social class; and in others, activities and games children played reflected their social class. And there are advantages to being in a working class family just as there are to be in a middle or upper class family. How the parents guide and lead their children -- to various forms social capital that helps them in the future -- is the most telling story.
Works Cited
Lareau, Annette. (2003). Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley, CA:
Works Cited
Lareau, Annette. (2003). Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley, CA:
Unequal Childhoods Critical Analysis Lareau's Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life reveals some of the root causes of social injustice and inequity in American society. The author's analysis is astute and relevant to current social trends. Taking a structuralist perspective allows Lareau to explore the patterns and normative behaviors within different income categories, to show how those patterns influence inter-generational disparities and perpetuate problems like economic disparity. The gap between rich
They gain a sense of distance, distrust, and constraint in their institutional experiences, a distrust that is common to White working class Italian households, and Black working class housing projects alike. Middle class children learn to regard leisure time as a time of skill building, to deal with strangers, even strange adults, to look these adults in the eye, and to comport themselves like members of the privileged class.
What is interesting about this way of parenting is that the parents are the ones who have to go out of their way to make sure that Alexander gets to all of his appointments, rehearsals and games on time. The parents are able to do this precisely because they are in an upper-middle-class economic level. Parents such as the ones in the McAllister family would not be able to
236). Unequal Childhoods is a very enjoyable and interesting book to read. Despite the complexity of the issues she discusses, the author's language and style is accessible. The families and their activities are described in a straightforward, sympathetic way. Each chapter gives a new view of the thesis and explores the real lives of each of the twelve families. The reader gets to know them and to understand their attitudes
For example, in discussing his childhood in "Southie" a poor neighborhood in Boston, Patrick MacDonald talks about the willful ignorance of the people in the neighborhood when he was a child. "They were all here now, all of my neighbors and friends who had died young from violence, drugs, and from the other deadly things we'd been taught didn't happen in Southie" (MacDonald, 1999, p.2). In other words, the
Childhood Second Language Learning and Subtractive Bilingualism During the past five decades, the phenomenon of understanding how language is acquired has intrigued historians, theorists and scholars alike. Although language learning can occur at many different stages in one's lifetime, the vast bulk of the research has focused on children who grow up learning one language in the home (L1), while simultaneously learning the second language (L2), usually as a result of