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.

• ContentsAcknowledgments ixIntroduction 1Social 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 21The 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 43Measuring 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 69Vigilance 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 87Studying 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 119Universal 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 141Educational Expectations 142 Occupational Expectations 145 The Meaning of Adolescent “Mistakes” 154 Summary 156 7.  The American Shift to Child-Centered Parenting 161Child-Centered Parenting 163 Summary 172 Conclusion 175Child-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 185Appendix B: List of Occupations Used in the Position Generator 187Appendix C: Selected Characteristics of Individual Study Participants 188Appendix D: Methodology 191Appendix E: Re-Analysis of Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation Using a Multidimensional Measure of Social Class 203Notes 213References 221Index 233About the Authors 241