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Unequal childhoods chapter 1 and 3
Unequal childhoods chapter 1 and 3
Effect of socio-economic status of parent on their children
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Recommended: Unequal childhoods chapter 1 and 3
The book Unequal Childhoods, 2nd edition, written by Annette Lareau, I will be focusing on social issues such as class and race that had a major part to do with the book. The book contains an overview of how social class in the white and African-American families, structure their parenting styles. After the original researches on the families were done, Lareau revisited with the families to examine, their social class transitions into adulthood. Studies have shown that the social class and race of a child’s or parents they belong to, matters for future references. Ultimately, It matters for school, sports progress and occupational success. In our class discussions, we talk about the advantages that the upper and middle class families has on …show more content…
The book disputes that regardless of race, social economic class will determine how successful children will be in the future. Lareau, went as far to explore how middle class families with children, up to ten years old went through their daily routines and aggressively sought to enhance their children’s talents and schools through a series of organized activities, intense language training, and by overseeing their children’s experiences in these institutions. However, the working-class and poor families, both black and white, had no options but to use resources that was accessible to them in order to take care of their children, even if its at the …show more content…
However being on the fortunate side, the middle class people use it to their advantage to get a better opportunity towards education and active activities to be successful in life. Unequal Childhoods falls in the category of conflict theory, because these were the issues expose by Lareau, even though they were different compare to the books that we look
Race becomes important because it is often the unconscious method of discrimination in the educational structure in Waretown. The Mexican-American girls who become upwardly mobile are seen as the exception. White girls who became upwardly mobile didn’t face any dissonant reactions when they achieved mobility because it was normalized of the white race. Mexican-American girls, however, did face dissonance because it was not typically expected of them. They would often fight the administration much more than white girls in order to avoid being placed on the vocational track and have to work harder to stay out of it. The exceptionality of these girls proves how important and influential cultural capital is in shaping class futures. Only a small fraction of working-class and Mexican-American girls were upwardly mobile, largely due to the fact that they didn’t have the needed cultural capital. There had to be intervening factors, such as sports, private schools, or siblings, in order for these girls to gain the cultural capital needed to be mobile. Without this cultural capital, many of the working-class girls would have had the same future as their parents and remained working class. Cultural capital becomes key for shaping class
In Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau discussed the extensive amount of research she conducted employing observational and interview techniques. She collected data on the middle class, working class, and poor families. She was trying to understand the impact of a child’s early parental guidance on the child’s life. She was able to conduct this research with 12 families, all of whom had fourth graders. She gathered enough information to conclude the major differences in the parenting styles of each type of family, which was directly correlated to socioeconomic status. Annette Lareau opens her book with two chapters to give the reader an idea on what the examples she gives will detail.
...ll. The inner city has many complications the fact that most are African American is a mere coincidence. If we as a nation are capable of fixing all institutions and structural issues we could bring the slums out of poverty. The cycle of unemployment and poverty is a terrible cycle that cannot only be judged by race and cultural values. When reading this book keep in mind the difficulties, any family or person could go through these tribulations. There are many arguments and sides to each problem; this is another one of those. The battle for inner city poverty, and the factors that go along with it, has not been finished. Wilson brings out a different aspect which could help people expand horizons and come up with better solutions.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
Lareau studied these families by using qualitative methodology and observed twelve different families with the focus on children between the ages of nine and ten (third and fourth graders). The racial distribution of her study was six white children, five African Americans, and one multiracial family coming from two different school districts, Lower Richmond and Swan School. What bring the families together are the similarities and differences between their parenting styles. Lareau does an exceptionally good job at showing the advantages and disadvantages of concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth and how these parenting can or will affect the children’s future.
...oming to an understanding of the daily struggles of every person, who attempts to raise a child in the American society. Inferring from the book, the extent to which the scholar discusses race as a key influence of childhood inequality is not as extended as that of social class. This is clear evidence that the Lareau dwells much on social class as the principal and prevalent theme in the American society towards parenting and child bearing (4). Indeed, at some point, Lareau reports that while race produces childhood inequality, most outcomes for children, from interactions to education, largely depends with social stratification (4). Therefore, she discusses that social class is more influential in relation to race.
In Chapter 5 of the Gilbert text, when Lareau mentions the sense of entitlement that upper-middle class children feel and the sense of restraint that working class and poor children feel she is referring to the growth and development that the children have experienced growing up. According to Lareau, there are two types of child-rearing that occur in many cultures, which are cultivated growth and natural growth. Cultivated growth is often experienced by upper-middle class children, whereas natural growth is experienced by working class and poor children. Upper-middle class children feel a sense of entitlement and working class and poor children feel a sense of restraint through daily activities, language, and various institutions.
Perhaps more importantly, the average black teenager is raised within a single parented home, typically with their father being absent. Not only does the absence of father’s affect the home financially, but also emotionally and socially destruct the family. Although most single mothers do a great job in raising their kids, 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. For children who live only with a mother, a male teacher may be the only positive male role model in their lives. Most black teens attend urbanized schools in the city or in low budgeted areas. In most cases, these schools does not always function at it’s full potential, due to the high number of students. The average high school graduation rate in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in...
Different social classes come with different perspectives and challenges, usually the belief is that higher society is much happier than those in the lower rank, but not including race into the education does not give all sides of that story. By evaluating parts in Cane by Jean Toomer, Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston story of class and race is being told. Color and classism have gone hand in hand for many years and evaluating the lives of characters that are considered the lowest of the low and yet made it up the totem pole brings up an important discussion. The conflicting ideas of race and class actually encourage racism and ruin the lives of characters in the black bourgeoisie.
African-American parents and grandparents play a pivotal role in the socialization of children as they help
Education has always been valued in the African American community. During slavery freed slaves and those held captive, organized to educate themselves. After emancipation the value of education became even more important to ex-slaves, as it was their emblem of freedom and a means to full participation in American Society (Newby & Tyack, 1971). During this time many schools for African Americans were both founded and maintained by African Americans. African Americans continued to provide education throughout their own communities well into the 1930’s (Green, McIntosh, Cook-Morales, & Robinson-Zanartu, 2005). The atmosphere of these schools resembled a family. The teachers along with principals extended the role of parenting and shaped student learning and discipline (Siddle-Walker, cited in Morris, 1999). African American Schools were embedded within the community and were viewed as good.
Lareau’s main argument in the text is that when children grow up in certain environments, parents are more likely to use specific methods of child rearing that may be different from other families in different social classes. In the text, Lareau describes how she went into the home of the McAllisters and the Williams, two black families leading completely different lives. Ms. McAllister lives in a low income apartment complex where she takes care of her two children as well as other nieces and nephews. Ms. McAllister never married the father of her two children and she relies on public assistance for income. She considers herself to be a woman highly capable of caring for all the children yet she still struggles to deal with the stress of everyday financial issues. The Williams on the other hand live in a wealthier neighborhood and only have one child. Mr. W...
Social class is a defining concept to each typical American family as it characterizes their place in society. It is important to use a structural diversity framework when demonstrating how class variation produces different social opportunities for each family. Structural conditions, such as class, race, and gender, all affect families differently, and create diverse family arrangements depending on their structural location. According to Maxinne Baca-Zinn in the textbook, Diversity in Families, using a structural perspective to study the stratifications associated to families demonstrates class, race, and gender all “foster group-based inequalities, are systems of subordination that shape family life and also place the family as a resistance
Although, African Americans are considered minorities in the United States, not all of them live in poverty. Many African Americans live in a middle class society along with the dominant culture. However, many African Americans do not live in a middle class society, but rather live in poverty and have to suffer along with this poverty. For instance, Donald Goines’s Black Girl Lost and Tina McElroy Ansa’s Baby of the Family, two narrative novels, that illustrate the difference in two young African American girls lives and the society in which they inhabit. Not only do these young African American girls represent the two sides of poverty, they also represent how children can also qualify in the minority category. For example, Sandra lives in a run down apartment with a drunk mother who could care less about her daughter. In addition, Sandra remains all on her own and has to find ways in which to survive each day. But on the other hand, Lena lives in a nice size home with her two parents, her two brothers, and her grandmother, all who love her very much. Moreover, Lena has many family members who look after her and take extra special care for her because she is the baby of the family. Although, both Sandra and Lena lead very different lives, both are faced with challenges as a minority and as a child which questions their view on life.
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.