Front cover image for Unequal childhoods : class, race, and family life

Unequal childhoods : class, race, and family life

Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously--as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children
eBook, English, ©2003
University of California Press, Berkeley, ©2003
1 online resource (xii, 331 pages)
9780520930476, 9781597349734, 0520930479, 1597349739
55857590
Concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth
Social structure and daily life
The hectic pace of concerted cultivation
A child's pace
Children's play is for children
Developing a child
Language as a conduit for social life
Concerted cultivation in organizational spheres
Concerted cultivation gone awry
Letting educators lead the way
Beating with a belt, fearing "the school"
The power and limits of social class