Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

Unequal Childhoods is a nonfiction sociological research study written by Annette Lareau in 2003 and republished in 2011 with a decade-later update on the subjects from the study. Lareau is an American sociologist with a doctorate in sociology. She currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. Lareau spent two decades researching family life before undertaking her major project and continues doing research today. Lareau conducted her study at the turn of the 21st century and feels the problems she witnessed have only been exacerbated since then.

This study guide utilizes the 2011 edition of the book.

Summary

Lareau introduces her longitudinal ethnographic study into the influence of class and race on institutional success by explaining the two parenting styles she observed in her fieldwork: concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation is upheld mainly by middle-class parents who wish to develop their children for success through organized activities, customizing of situations, and intentional language use. The accomplishment of natural growth is commonly upheld by working-class and poor parents and focuses more on fulfilling basic needs and ensuring the safety of the children. Children spend more time with extended family and less time in organized activities. Both parenting styles have benefits and downfalls. The social structure in which families live, including their economic and institutional positions, shapes what social class families belong to and thus influences the daily lives of families.

Lareau’s ethnographic study relied on naturalistic observation within the family’s lives. Interviews were occasionally conducted to gather more detailed information on particular subjects. Her team included both Black and white researchers, and she attempts to remain objective in retelling the daily events of her subjects. Lareau introduces her subjects in three sections based on a group of related traits. The first is the way families organize their daily life, and Lareau describes the daily lives of the Tallingers, the Taylors, and the Brindles. Each family has a unique class position that influences how their lives are lived within the home and around it. Middle-class families organize their lives in a more hectic and calculated manner in an attempt to set their children up for success. The second section, which includes the Williamses and McAllisters, discusses the ways language is used within the home—the tone, intention, and underlying messages being communicated between family members. Working-class and poor families tend to use language more as a practical and directive tool, which serves them well but is not recognized by the state or school as a useful or acceptable method of communication. This creates barriers between the families and the institutions they live with and prevents them from having the same opportunities and luxuries middle-class families have. The third section focuses on the relationships families have with these institutions, specifically with their schools and the people who work in them. The Handlons, the Drivers, and the Yanellis all have varying experiences with the schools their children attend. Some feel powerless and constrained while others feel they have a strong influence over the school.

In the second edition, Lareau follows up with the subjects of the study and their families by conducting lengthy interviews with each of them. She finds that their social class has followed most of them into young adulthood. Most are happy, but most have not moved either up or down economically (to any significant degree). She offers to let the participants read Unequal Childhoods and records their reactions to it. The vast majority of the families were disturbed or offended by the way they were portrayed, which Lareau describes as a natural reaction to being exposed to the results of one’s own study. A few of the families were open and accepting of the results and the way they were written. Lareau concludes her second edition with a comparison to quantitative data from a national survey on family life and financial statistics. She finds the results of the survey mirror the results of her ethnographic study and believes this shows that class does have a direct and tangible influence on success in America. As a result, she urges her readers to understand that while upward mobility is possible, it is not entirely up to the individual. Instead, people in America are trapped within social structures that dictate the opportunities afforded to them.