Parenting in Privilege or Peril

Pamela R. Bennett is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Amy Lutz is an associate professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Lakshmi Jayaram is president of the Inquiry Research Group LLC and policy fellow in the School of Public Policy at UMBC.

Contents


Acknowledgments ix


Introduction 1

Social Contexts Matter 3

Culture, Conditions, and Constraints: Themes and Variation in Explanations for Social Reproduction 5

Defensive and Strategic Parenting: An Illustration 8

Data 11

Overview of the Book 15


1.  Worlds Vastly Different: The Neighborhood and School Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Families 21

The School Contexts in Which Middle-Class and Working-Class Children Learn 21

The Residential Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents 25

Summary 41


2.  Networks to Get Ahead and Networks to Get By 43

Measuring Social Networks 44

Class Differences in Social Network Resources 46

Class Differences in the Utilization of Social Network Resources 53

From Getting by to Getting Ahead 64

Summary 67


3.  Navigating Adolescence in Unequal Contexts 69

Vigilance Among the Working Class 69

Fostering Autonomy Among the Middle Class 79

Summary 85


4.  Opportunities to Participate: Unequal Contexts and Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation 87

Studying Parents’ Engagement With Structured Activities 89

Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation 91

Parents’ Expressed Cultural Logic 94

Schools as Equalizing Institutions 104

Financial and Institutional Constraints on Non-School Activities Among the Working Class 109

Summary 113


5.  In Search of a Good School: Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents’ Navigation of the High School Application Process 119

Universal Participation in the Application Process 121

The Middle-Class Pursuit of an Elite Public Education 123

Working-Class Parents’ Avoidance of Dangerous Schools 127

Teacher Assistance in Choosing Schools 134

Social Class Differences in High School Selectivity 137

Summary 137


6.  Unequal Contexts and Parents’ Educational and Occupational Expectations 141

Educational Expectations 142

Occupational Expectations 145

The Meaning of Adolescent “Mistakes” 154

Summary 156


7.  The American Shift to Child-Centered Parenting 161

Child-Centered Parenting 163

Summary 172


Conclusion 175

Child-Centered Parenting 175

To Strategize and Defend 177

The Privilege to Live One’s Values 180

What Can We Do? Policy Recommendations 181


Appendix A: Sociodemographic Characteristics of Sample 185


Appendix B: List of Occupations Used in the Position Generator 187


Appendix C: Selected Characteristics of Individual Study Participants 188


Appendix D: Methodology 191


Appendix E: Re-Analysis of Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation Using a Multidimensional Measure of Social Class 203


Notes 213


References 221


Index 233


About the Authors 241