Family Focus On: Families and Social Class

What we found was that although all parents want their children to be happy and to thrive, social class makes a very substantial difference in how thisuniversal goal is met.

Family Focus On...

Families and

Social Class Issue FF33

Unequal Childhoods continued on page F2

Fa

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nd

So

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l Cla

ss

IN FOCUS:

Professor as Student:

What my Undergraduate

Students have Taught me

about Social Class

page F3

African American

Family Strategies for

Moving Into and Staying In

the Middle Class

page F5

Family Social Class and

Educational Attainment

page F8

Does Minority Status

Put an Individual At-Risk?

page F9

Female Educational

Attainment and

Family Formation:

Which Comes First?

page F11

Reaching for Success

from a Place Seen as

‘Second Best’: Social Class,

Trailer Park Residence

and Youth Development

page F12

Race, Class, and Extended

Family Involvement

page F14

Unequal Childhoods:

Inequalities in the

Rhythms of Daily Lifeby Annette Lareau, PhD, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland

The intersection of race and class inAmerican life is an important butoften vexing subject for sociologists.

The power of social class is often obscured bythe visibility of race. I wrote Unequal Child-hoods: Class, Race, and Family Life (Universityof California Press, 2003) in part because Iwanted to make class real by showing howit works in everyday life. I hoped that bycapturing the day-to-dayrhythms of life in differentkinds of families—those ofmiddle-class, working-class,and poor whites and AfricanAmericans—I could help bringthe seemingly intractableproblem of inequality intoclearer focus.

Most of the 88 familiesmy research assistants and I interviewedduring the first stage of research had childrenin the third or fourth grade in elementaryschools in a large northeastern city and itssuburbs. From this initial pool, we selectedtwelve families, six African American and sixwhite, for more intensive study. Nearly everyday for three weeks we spent time, usually afew hours, with each family. We went tobaseball games, church services, familyreunions, grocery stores, beauty parlors andbarbershops. We even stayed overnight withmost of the families. We saw siblings squabbleand heard parents yell. We joined kids as

they sat around watching TV and as theyplayed outside in the yard or the street. Bythe standards of social science research, thiswas an unusually intensive study.

What we found was that although allparents want their children to be happy andto thrive, social class makes a very substan-tial difference in how this universal goal is

met. Middle-class parentspromote what I call

concerted cultivation.They actively foster

their children’stalents, opinions,and skills by

enrolling the childrenin organized activities,

reasoning with them, andclosely monitoring their

experiences in institutions such as schools.The focus is squarely on children’s individualdevelopment. As a result of this pattern ofconcerted cultivation, children gain anemerging sense of entitlement. Most of themiddle-class families in the study wereextremely busy; this pattern held for whiteand African American middle-class families.Children attend soccer games, go on GirlScout trips, do homework, and go to birthdayparties; parents need to arrange these activi-ties as well as get children there and back.Despite the busy schedule, most parentsworked full time and some had job-related

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Families and Social Class

Family Focus March 2007

F 2

UNEQUAL CHILDHOODS continued from page F1

overnight travel. In addition to meetingtheir workplace responsibilities, parentshad to manage the details of family life:they had to go grocery shopping, preparedinner, do laundry, monitor homework,oversee children’s showers, and participatein bedtime rituals. I detail in the book whatchildren’s schedules mean for family life.In describing the middle class, I use theterm “the frenetic family.” Things are sohectic that the house sometimes seems tobe little more than a holding space for thebrief periods between activities.

The differences we observed betweenthese middle-class families and those of theworking class and poor families are striking.Parents in working-class and poor familiespromote what I call the accomplishment ofnatural growth. These parents care for theirchildren, love them, and set limits for them,but within these boundaries, they allow thechildren to grow spontaneously. Childrendo not have organized activities. Instead,they play outside with cousins and siblings;they watch television. Parents use directivesrather than reasoning with children. Andchildren generally negotiate institutionallife, including their day-to-day schoolexperiences, on their own. The working-class and poor parents in the study oftenwere very distrustful of contacts with “theschool” and healthcare facilities. Theywere fearful that professionals in theseinstitutions might “come and take my kidsaway.” Rather than an emerging sense ofentitlement, children in these familiesdeveloped an emerging sense of constraint.Working-class and poor families struggledwith severe economic shortages (includinglack of food in the poor families) that oftenled to additional labor or complexity (longbus rides, missed appointments), but thepace of their daily life was much less hecticthan that of the middle-class families.

Unquestionably, the families we studieddiffered in terms of how they raised theirchildren. But are these differences impor-tant—do they really matter? Neither theapproach of concerted cultivation northe accomplishment of natural growth iswithout flaws. Both have strengths andweaknesses. Middle-class children, forexample, are often exhausted, have viciousfights with siblings, and do not have asmuch contact with their extended familiesas working-class and poor children. Butwhen children are in settings such as schoolsand healthcare facilities, middle-classparents’ strategy of concerted cultivationcomplies much more closely with thecurrent standards of professionals thandoes the accomplishment of naturalgrowth strategy that working-class andpoor parents rely on. Middle-class parentsroutinely make special requests of teachers,asking, for example, that they provide theirchildren with individualized instruction.These parents expect the institution toaccommodate them, and this expectationtypically is met. Middle-class children aretaught to ask doctors questions and to feelthat they have the right to challenge peoplein positions of authority. Thus, the datasuggest that middle-class children gainadvantages, including potential benefits inthe world of work, from the experience ofconcerted cultivation. Working-class andpoor children are not taught these lifeskills, and thus do not gain the associatedbenefits. In short, class matters.

What about race? We found that in termsof children’s time use, parents’ methods oftalking to children, and parents’ interactionswith schools and other institutions, AfricanAmerican middle-class children had muchmore in common with white middle-classchildren than with African American pooror working-class children. Still, race does

matter in otherrespects: most of thechildren lived inracially segregatedneighborhoods,middle-class AfricanAmerican parentscomplained of race-based difficulties inthe workplace, andAfrican American middle-class parentswere very worried about their childrenbeing exposed to racial insensitivity atschool. These parents also tried to promotea positive racial identity for their children(for example, by taking them to a pre-dominately middle-class African Americanchurch). But in terms of the overall rhythmof children’s family lives, and the ways inwhich parents address their own and theirchildren’s concerns, class emerged as muchmore important than race. Other studiesalso show substantial divisions betweenmiddle-class African Americans and work-ing-class and poor African Americans.The findings presented here, and in muchgreater detail in Unequal Childhoods, arebased on an intensive study of only twelvefamilies. Can we trust these results to tellus anything of significance? I believe thatwe can. The book’s conclusions supportestablished findings in social science re-search, which, using statistical techniquesand nationally representative data, haveshown important differences in how parentsraise children. Rather than using numbers,Unequal Childhoods uses the stories of realfamilies to highlight important socialpatterns. Moreover, American society is ina time of change. Children are being raiseddifferently today than in earlier decades:middle-class children have more organizedactivities than in the 1950s and 1960s, forexample. This shift has important implica-tions for family life that our research helpsexpose by providing detailed insight intointimate details of daily life in families withyoung children. It gives us a chance to stepback and reflect on how we are spendingour time in family life as parents, andhow we are choosing to raise our children.It also reminds us of the fact — all toooften neglected— that there are important

Unequal Childhoods continued on page F3

Annette Lareau, PhD

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Regardless of their origins, they are riding a middle-class train,which means that somewhere alongthe way they must have acquired enough middle-class cultural capital to get on board.

In recent years I’ve asked students inmy undergraduate Microsociologycourse to come to terms with their

social-class origins in a term paper. Theyborrow concepts from Annette Lareau’sUnequal Childhoods and Julie Bettie’sWomen without Class and they write per-sonal narratives in which they press theseconcepts into service. I love the exercise.I get to see our student majors in theirfamily context, and I learn a wealth ofprivileged detail about them that wouldotherwise remain hidden from my aware-ness. My students emerge with a richer viewof their own identities. They learn how todiscourse about social class, and theybegin to see themselves as classed subjectsrather than simply a bunch of individuals.

They start with Lareau, who neatly sum-marizes her work elsewhere in this news-letter. A beauty of her research is its utteraccessibility, as she lays out her materialwith broad brushstrokes and bold catego-ries. Natural growth is the way of parents andkids in working-class and poor (wc) families;concerted cultivation is the approach forparents and kids in middle-class (mc)families. Spontaneous, child-organizedactivities (typically in the company ofsiblings and cousins) are what wc kids do

differences across social groups in thecontours of childhood.

The arguments and evidence in UnequalChildhoods also point us toward newdirections for social science research. Thestudy suggests that while African Americanmiddle-class families do face some child-rearing problems that have no counterpartin white middle-class families, AfricanAmerican parents draw on a set of generic

class resources to manage these problems.We can do better research and gain adeeper understanding of the intersection ofrace and class by showing how all familiesdraw on class-based resources as theynegotiate their daily lives. Put differently,we need to move beyond studying variables;it’s time to focus on families.

Dr. Lareau can be reached [email protected] .

UNEQUAL CHILDHOODS continued from page F2

Professor as Student:

What my Undergraduate Students

have Taught me about Social Classby Stephen R. Marks, Professor of Sociology, University of Maine

have acquired enough middle-class culturalcapital to get on board. Exactly how thathappened is the challenge of the term paper.

Earnestly, my students stretch to fit them-selves to these concepts, and many of themdo so splendidly. Most of them wind upstraddling the fence, however, suggestingthat in some ways their upbringing was amatter of concerted cultivation while inother ways it more closely approximatedthe model of natural growth. Very fewstudents report the entire array of featuresthat typically cluster together withinLareau’s typology, and there is enormous

variation across studentsregarding which

elements oftheir back-

ground matchup to the model

and which do not.

For example, Jane’s in-volvement in adult-organized

activities—she often rushed freneticallyfrom one to the other—could be right outof Lareau. But many other students recallfar more spontaneous child-organizedactivity on their street or neighborhood,with little involvement or input fromadults. Several of them report playing withnearby cousins almost every day, a patternthat Lareau found to be more typicalwithin working-class families.

Regarding cognitive development, again Ifound a lot of variation. Jane recalls: “Mymother would read novels to us everynight before we went to bed, and welooked forward to it all day.” She writes ofconversations “always going on” in herfamily and of constantly being encouraged“to use bigger words.” She recalls heatedand contentious verbal negotiations with

Professor as Student continued on page F4

after school; adult-organized and adult-managed activities are what mc kids do.Non-negotiable directives and scant focuson cognitive and reasoning skills are theapproach of wc parents; verbal negotiationand an intense cultivation of cognitive skillsand language use are favored by mc parents.And retreat from (and suspicion of)middle-class institutions are found amongwc parents, whereas active manipulationof these institutions for their children’sbenefit are found among mc parents. Theoutcome of these processes is a constrainedself in the typical wc kid and an entitled selfin the typical mc kid.

I ask my studentsto think backto age 10, theage of Lareau’starget children(yes, this is notideal science; retro-spective accounts aresuspect). I caution them to begin thisexercise with the recognition that here theyare, sitting in a college classroom, primedto graduate from a four-year universityprogram. Regardless of their origins, theyare riding a middle-class train, which meansthat somewhere along the way they must

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F 4

her parents”: “Whatever made me thinkthat I could talk back to the people thatbrought me into this world and treat themwith such disrespect? It had to have been asense of entitlement.” In contrast, Felicia’sstory suggests an approach to cognitivedevelopment that was very different fromJane’s. “At my school,” she writes, “we wereforced to take a book out of the libraryevery week and read it. At home, my momrefused to fudge the forms unless I actuallyread the book and she had to see me doingit, and she refused to answer anything otherthan ‘because you have to’ when I beggedthe question ‘why.’ After a while I came toreally enjoy reading, but all the criticalthinking and language skills I developedweren’t from home and definitely weren’tfrom my friends. My mom never askedwhat I was reading or what it was about. Ithink she was just concerned that I readbecause of the importance of it in school.”Felicia recalls little in her upbringing thatresembled the tendency in middle-classhomes of children being catered to andtreated as being special. “My mom oftentreated my world as ‘lesser’ than her adultworld. It was a repeated process with avariety of things, and most definitely fur-thered a ‘constrained-me.’ For the longesttime, particularly later on in high school,my self-esteem was and remained fairly lowbecause I couldn’t get past that thought.”

Lareau’s account of middle-class parentsbeing ever-ready to intervene in institutionson their children’s behalf likewise findsuneven support among my students.Matthew’s experience confirms the pattern,and he writes of an interesting variation.He recalls discussions with his parentsabout frustrations he was having withinthis or that activity, and his parents wouldthen coach him about how he might inter-vene on his own behalf: “I wanted to playfirst base on my baseball team my fifthgrade year. My parents and I talked abouthow I could approach the coach before thegame and explain that I had played first baseon my farm league team and would reallylike to try it. Their interest and rehearsal ofme talking with the coach enabled me toarticulate what I was going to say and howI was going to say it. These types of rehears-als followed me into the future. I wouldfind myself thinking about what I was going

to say to a teacher or coach when I was notpleased with what was going on. In highschool and even today, I feel confident inasking for certain changes or explanationsin my grades. This confidence developsfrom a sense of entitlement that I deserveanswers and accommodations to mypersonal needs.” In contrast, Jane’s parentsdidn’t quite fit the intervention and entitle-ment mold. She sometimes felt they were“intimidated by people with a high educa-tion or who had a lot of power, such asdoctors,” and she reports that she toocarries this legacy of feeling “intimidatedby people who carry a lot of power.” “I amalmost afraid they are looking down onme because I am not as educated.” Entitle-ment in Jane’s case seems to be mixedwith more than a modicum of constraint—middle-class patterns mixed with elementsthat are held to be more often presentamong the working class and poor.

Stephen R. Marks,PhD

PROFESSOR AS STUDENT continued from page F3

The place of extended family in some ofmy students’ upbringing likewise muddiessome of the patterns in Lareau’s broadbrushstrokes. Unlike most or all of Lareau’smiddle-class families, who rarely had anykin within a short drive, some of my studentsreport regular, even daily interaction withkin. Marlene, for example, recalls that herextended family “greatly helped my parentscreate the middle-class environment andbenefits that I came to know and the ‘en-titled self’ that I was shaped into.” Sheadds, “I was read to constantly as a youngchild. I remember vividly my parents,grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousinsreading to me.” Sylvia offers a similaraccount of kin involvement, one that is tiedto both her organized activities and hercognitive cultivation: “It was not just myparents who were involved in my life,” shewrites. “I remember my grandparents(both sets), aunts and uncles, and cousinswere all very important. They would gowatch my baseball games, my clarinet andchoir recitals, and school plays. Any event

that I was a part of,my whole familywas usually there.I think it was a loteasier because theyall live on my dirtroad or within fiveminutes of me. Mybrother and I haveour own bedroomat our grandparents’ house, and I remem-ber I would sleep there as often as I could.Whenever I did, my grandmother wouldread books to me, play games, and putpuzzles together—all of which I thinkhelped to contribute to my language use.”

Here we have a few exemplars of somesocial-class origins of students in a Micro-sociology class at the University of Maine.Most of them grew up in Maine, in smalltowns and little villages rather than theurban milieu in which Lareau’s familieswere located. That may make a big differ-ence in how social-class patterns shake out.Moreover, the fact that all these young adultswill graduate from a four-year institution ofhigher education does not portend the samesocial-class destination for all of them. Somewill replicate the working-class origins oftheir parents despite their education. Somewill wind up in low-level managerial posi-tions with very modest incomes. A few willgo on to graduate school. And several willno doubt wind up in flashy careers withsix-figure incomes. Perhaps the differencesin outcomes will all come down to howclosely their families approximated Lareau’sbasic patterns after all. Perhaps the studentswho will barely maintain middle-class status(if at all) will be the ones with many ele-ments of working-class “natural growth”mixed into their upbringing, while the oneswho become the bigger achievers will bethose with the most consistent “concertedcultivation.” What matters is not so muchhow “right” the model is in all its specificsbut the fact that we have the model, plainand simple. Because of scholars like Lareau,we are now discoursing about social classin a way that is new and exciting.

More information about Dr. Marks, a newNCFR Fellow, is available in the NCFR Fellowsarticle in this issue of Report. He can bereached at [email protected]

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F 5

Typical middle class markers include college education, homeownership, mobility, and white collar careers.Systemic racism and unequal access to resources have provided a very different context for Black Families than for White Families...

Racism at every level of society has made attaining middle class status difficult for African Americans.

Prior to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s,slavery and then legal segregation made itnearly impossible for Blacks to work inprofessional positions or to acquire prop-erty, investments, and other assets. Despitethe hurdles facing them, through persistenceand hard work, some African Americanshave been able to move into the middleclass. The Black middle class now is agrowing population that is just beginning toreceive scholarly attention. Most researchon African Americans has focused on theBlack urban poor, which has made theBlack middle class relatively invisible toboth scholars and media. The qualitativeresearch discussed here was initiated toexplore some of the ways African Americanshave mobilized to move either themselvesor their children into the middle class. Wefound common themes in the stories ourinterview participants told that included afocus upon the nuclear family, geographicmobility, parental stress upon education,and parents who worked multiple jobs toensure middle class lives for their children.

The data were collected by the secondauthor, who conducted in-depth interviewswith twelve Black women living in theGreater Hartford, Connecticut area.Participants self-identified as middle class.Most had college educations, or at leastsome college experience, and most ownedtheir own homes. Only one, however, spokeof any assets beyond home ownership.Interview questions were open-ended anddeveloped primarily from an interview guideused in a prior study on race and supportexchange. Questions asked about thewomen’s family, educational, and employ-ment experiences, and their social supportnetworks. Demographic information also

African American Family Strategies

for Moving Into and

Staying In the Middle Classby Anne Bubriski, Southern Connecticut University and Lara Descartes, University of Connecticut

was collected. Participants were recruitedvia advertisements posted in communityvenues such as Black-owned businesses,and subsequent snowball sampling.

The twelve women’s accounts showed agreat deal of thematic overlap, discussedbelow. While all participants definedthemselves as middle class, most grew up inworking class families, and thus had a greatdeal to say about how they and their fami-lies had managed the transition, revealingboth their practices and their ideologies.

Support Exchange and Independence

Support exchange among African Ameri-cans has been well-researched, startingwith Carol Stack’s seminal1974 ethnographic study.This, like many subse-quent pieces, focusedon urban poorBlacks andhighlightedextensive relianceamong family mem-bers and fictive kin.More recent studies,though, have raised questionsabout the ability of poorerAfrican Americans to participatein such kin-based exchange. Poverty mayreduce the resources available to be sharedwith other family members and therefore,the poorer the kin members are, the lesslikely they may be to share with or sup-port other kin members. For middle classfamilies, there is a similar debate. MaryPattillo-McCoy, for example, argued that“families keep alive a culturally basedemphasis on the extended family in orderto maintain an economically middle-classstandard of living.” However, ElizabethHigginbotham and Lynn Weber foundthat middle class Blacks who received

support got it primarily from nuclearfamily members. This was especially trueif it was assistance for the purpose ofhigher education.

Likewise, the women in our study reliedmainly on nuclear family members if theyneeded financial assistance. Monetarysupport, however, was kept to a minimumand seemed used only to advance a nuclearfamily member’s life situation. This financialhelp was given, for example, to help buyor repair a home or car, and/or get aneducation. One woman stated about herparents that “if I was going back to schoolthey would help me out. Basically, anything

that can help me prosper[they would help me

with].” Another partici-pant discussed how

she helped hermother: “My momjust bought a house

maybe a year ago andsince she’s just the only

person that’s working andI’ve been working, I’ve been

giving her some moneytowards the house.”

This familial monetary supporthelped individuals either maintain middleclass status or move up the socioeconomicladder into middle class status. The majorityof participants, however, stressed self-sufficiency and independence, rather thanreliance on others. When asked aboutadult children and parents helping eachother, for example, one participant replied:

If it’s not a real emergency, if you just wantto take your paycheck and live widely, Idon’t want to help you. Because I reallybelieve in there comes a time when youshould really take care of yourself … I want to

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Obtaining a higher education is a significant factor in the mobility process and middleclass attainment.

be independent … I mean if the need arriveswhere I can’t take care of myself, I wouldmore count on like, fortunately the State ofConnecticut offers I think like, throughMedicare or whatever… So I would looktoward those agencies to help me help myself,more than my kids.

Thus, this woman affirmed a value thatadult children and elders should be inde-pendent as much as possible and only relyon support from others in cases of emer-gency. Another participant similarly statedthat adult children “should be independent.I think that once you reach a certain ageand you can do for yourself, you should dofor yourself. I don’t think you should alwaysdepend on your parents to be there.”

Geographic Mobility

The ability to be mobile may enablemiddle class status. As noted, some pastresearch has indicated the strength andinterreliance of African American extendedfamilies. However, some have argued thatas Blacks begin to move into to the middleclass, they might need to remove themselvesfrom sharing resources with extensiveextended family in order to maintain thoseresources. Stack, for example, observedthat Blacks seeking to rise above povertycan find it difficult to save money. Anyfinances obtained frequently are used tohelp other members of the kin network.Therefore, moving up the socioeconomicladder may require that a person moveaway from the local kin network in orderto save their individual monetary resourcesfor their own use. Supporting this, HarrietMcAdoo’s study participants reported that“in order to make it out of poverty, they, inessence, had to cut themselves off fromtheir families”.

Our interviewees did discuss a pattern ofgeographic mobility corresponding to theirclass mobility. Most of those we spoke withdescribed how their families were scatteredacross various states. One participant indescribing her family said they werespread throughout the states of Wisconsin,Minnesota, Mississippi, and Connecticut.There did seem to be a correspondence todecreased exchange with geographicallyremote kin. Moreover, many explainedthat their parents moved from the South to

FAMILY STRATEGIES continued from page F5

New England or the Midwest. The citedreasons for leaving the South unanimouslywere for work opportunities. This was likelya significant factor aiding class mobility dueto the systemic and often overt racism inthe southern states. Migrating to northern orMidwestern states seems to have providedmore job and housing opportunities forBlack families, especially in the post-WorldWar II industrial boom.

Education

Obtaining a higher education is a significantfactor in the mobility process and middleclass attainment. Studies havedemonstrated the need for acollege education to work inwhite collar occupations.Higginbotham and Weberassert, “Lacking inheritedwealth or other resources,those working-classpeople who attain middle-class standing do so primarily by obtaininga college education and entering a profes-sional, managerial, or administrative occu-pation.” Obtaining this education has a lotto do with parent involvement, educationalexpectations, and strong relationships withchildren. Selcuk Sirin and Lauren Rogers-Sirin found that these factors, in both singleparent and dual parent families, corre-sponded to high levels of academic perfor-mance among middle class Black youth.

Likewise, among our interview partici-pants, education was a prominent theme intheir lives, one that they and their parentshad stressed. Most of the women eitherpossessed college degrees or had attendedcollege at some point. Most, regardlessif they were from single or dual parentfamilies, spoke of their parents’ doggedinsistence that they do well in school, andif they themselves were parents, describedhow they in turn focused upon theirchildren’s educations. The women’s storiesrecounted how education and its importancewas hammered home. A few mentionedthat this had been the case particularlybecause they were female; their parentshad wanted them as Black women to beable to support themselves comfortably,if need be. Many also spoke of how theirparents had helped them financially

with school, and if they had children, howthey did this as well. The goal of this assis-tance was to enable their educationalattainment as a means toward achievingindependence. One woman, for example,said of her own child:

I know how important an education is. Iwant [my daughter] to be able to focus thattime on studying … So I mean if I couldmake it so that all she had to do was go tocollege, she would have a car, because Iwould pay for it. She wouldn’t have to payinsurance. I would want these four years to

be the time she could devote tostudying … then when you start

working, then you can takecare of yourself.

One interview partici-pant connected her

ideas about helping adultchildren with education to

her own parents’ practices:

Of course parents help support childrenthrough school. My parents put me and myoldest brother through school. Even thoughmaybe we had loans that we had to repay,initially they made a lot of up front paymentsand did a lot of the initial stuff.

Another woman interviewed similarlylinked her ideas about supporting herchildren’s educations to her own history: “Iwould help them financially as much as Icould, if they needed to come back homeand live home and stay home as long aspossible, they could, because that wasoffered to me.” These sentiments aresignificant because they describe howmiddle class status is transferred acrossgenerations. These interviewees are dis-cussing strategies that likely will enableinter-generational class stability. Pattillo-McCoy discussed how many young adultsfrom middle class families do not finishcollege due to the high costs of living and“room and board” charges universitiesoften require. It seems it may be importantfor many Black young adults to live athome while attending college in order tosecure that class standing for the future.

Employment

High educational achievement is the usualpathway to professional careers, which in

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turn can give economic and class stability.However, because of institutional andstructural racism, numerous well-educatedand experienced Black males are eitherunderemployed or unemployed. ManyBlack middle class families stay middleclass specifically because there are twowages to enable it. McAdoo reported, forexample, that “[Black wives’] income wasnot needed to stay above the poverty level,but instead was used to maintain middle-income status … Maternal employmentand dual-career families are intimate com-ponents of Black family stability.”

Our interviews, however, revealed notonly dual income families, but triple oreven quadruple income families. Many ofthe interviewees talked about themselvesand/or their own parents working mul-tiple jobs. The money enabled the familiesto remain middle class, or, if they wereworking class, to provide the resourcesallowing their children to become middleclass and independent. Despite their mul-tiple jobs, these parents remained inti-mately involved in their children’s lives.We labeled this pattern “superheroparenting.” One interview participantdescribes her father:

He worked at the hospital as a night EMT.So he would work 11-7, and get home late,then come home in the morning, get usready for school, and then when we gothome from school, we would wake him upfor his 3-11 job. He did it for years, for years.He did it at least eight years because . . . weboth went to Catholic school, and then fromthat we paid for college.

This participant’s father was diabetic andunfortunately, she attributed his death tohis extended lack of sleep and exhaustinghours. Other parents also overextendedthemselves to meet the demands of middleclass living. One woman explained howher father stretched his finances in orderfor his daughter to “fit in” with the uppermiddle class status of her classmates:

When she went to Fairfield, it was a differentcrowd. And he didn’t want her thinking thatshe couldn’t keep up with them, so he gaveher a credit card. Where so that if she neededsomething she could get it and not feel differ-ent from, I don’t want to say spoiled brats

that went there, but the kids were more, Idon’t know, better off or well off.

These descriptions of parents placing theirhealth and financial stability at risk in orderto fit the “middle class mold” and to ensurecomfortable livings for future generationspaint these parents as superheroes indeed.

Conclusion

The women interviewed for this studyshared some common experiences in theways they and their families reached and/or maintained middle class status. In oursample, social support networks tendedto be concentrated among nuclear familymembers. Mobility, a hallmark of the mid-dle class, also was a characteristic of ourinterviewees and their families, as peoplemoved wherever jobs could be obtained.The majority of the women described theirfamilies as being quite spread out, whetherwithin one state or across the country.They also discussed involved, hands-onparenting, in which parents focused in-tensely on their children’s education,making sure that the children succeeded.Sometimes this also meant working mul-tiple jobs in order to finance the lifestylesparents preferred for their children.

Wealth shapes and influences patterns ofclass mobility and financial stability. Onlyone of the participants in our study discussedhaving any family assets beyond their home.Albeit home equity and home ownershipare important, possessing only this form ofwealth leaves many families vulnerable toeconomic hardships. Equity in property isnot considered a liquid asset. Thus, whenfinancial difficulties arise, families withsolely this form of wealth may not haveimmediate access to monetary resources,

compared to those families that have sig-nificant savings and/or other liquid assets.

Discrepancy in wealth is important to ourstudy because it may significantly affect theway Black middle class families exchangeresources, engage in mobility patterns, andprovide for future generations. In particular,it is likely that the lack of wealth in theBlack middle class families of which ourinterviewees were members contributed toparents’ decisions to work multiple jobssimultaneously in order to provide eco-nomic stability for their families. Mostmiddle class White families do not find theneed to work multiple jobs in order to payfor their children’s education, school needs,transportation and so on. When there werenot monetary resources to rely upon topay for education or other needs, AfricanAmerican parents looked for second andeven third jobs.

Typical middle class markers includecollege education, homeownership,mobility, and white collar careers. Systemicracism and unequal access to resourceshave provided a very different context forBlack families than for White families,however, as they have worked to obtainmiddle class lives and futures for theirchildren. We find the label “superheroparent” to aptly describe the many movingstories we heard of mothers and fathersworking hard to provide economic stabilityfor their children and ensure that they hadall the resources necessary for academicand professional success.

The authors may be contacted [email protected] [email protected] .

FAMILY STRATEGIES continued from page F6

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One study participant and her sister joined the National Guard because they believed that was the only way they could attend college. They knew nothing of student loans or scholarships or that there was a financial aid process.

Social class exerts a powerful influence on educational attainment, one that is often invisible and unacknowl-

edged. Education is often seen as a way forfamilies to escape poverty, yet individualsfrom lower socioeconomic backgroundswho graduate from college are far lesslikely to pursue an advanced degree thanare their peers from more affluent back-grounds. Yet some do finish graduateschool and enter a profession. What istheir experience like and what can welearn from it? A recent research projectaddressed these questions.

The focus of the research was tobetter understand the experience ofsocial class from the perspectives ofthose who earned graduate degrees andentered professional life from workingclass backgrounds. In-depth interviewswere conducted with seven individualswho had completed degrees withinthe last ten years. Three key findingsdescribe the experience of having a workingclass background and earning a graduatedegree to enter a profession.

Trouble Accessing the System

The higher education system is designedfor those who already understand how itworks. Individuals from working classbackgrounds have no understandableentry point.. They cannot rely on parentsbecause their parents had no experiencewith college and may even have beenskeptical of its benefits. One participant inthe study said that college was a “foreignworld” to his parents. Parents might havebeen supportive, but they were not able toprovide informed assistance. In somecases, school counselors discouragedlower class students from applying tocollege. One study participant and hersister joined the National Guard becausethey believed that was the only way theycould attend college. They knew nothingof student loans or scholarships or thatthere was a financial aid process. Others

Family Social Class

and Educational Attainmentby Reggie Curran, Steven B. Frye, Cathy A. Pierce, Mary Ziegler, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

never visited a college campus to have anyidea what it might be like. The experienceof entering college or even graduate schoolwas described as “groping in the dark.”Each individual was on his or her own.

Contrasting World Views

Once enrolled in college, those fromworking class backgrounds have a “work-ing class way of looking at the world” thatis different from those that are from moreprivileged backgrounds. Participants saidthey did not fit in with or measure up totheir peers. The feeling of being an imposter

was pervasive. One individual used theterm “crashing the party” to describe howworking class people appear not to have alegitimate place in higher education. Whatdrove him was fear of failure. He feared hewould get into an educational program,but not be able to complete it, or worse,learn that college was not a good fit for him.Another participant said that her social classmeant that not only did she not belong, butshe was insecure and felt that she wasunprepared for the college experience.

In addition to not belonging, working classindividuals have the pressure of time. Thosefrom working class backgrounds oftenmust continue to work or borrow moneyto pay for college. This results in pressureto finish as soon as possible. Participantscontrasted their experiences with theirpeers from more affluent backgroundswho appear to have a different experienceof higher education. Their worldview seemsto be one where they belong, are preparedfor college, and have time to invest in their

educational programs because they do notappear to have financial pressures. Moreaffluent peers are seen as having a “legacy”or a framework for knowing how to adjustto higher education. One person said, “Ihad colleagues whose great grandfatherswere college professors.”

Negotiating Dual Roles

College graduates from a working classbackground often experience conflictabout their identity. While they value theirroots and their family of origin, they alsovalue their educational experience and the

success that education brings them. Thiscontradiction has consequences that

my lead to a lack of connectionwith their family of origin.Regardless of their accom-

plishment, however, manydefined their identity as including

their working class backgroundsand their families’ values. One indi-

vidual said, “I’ve got my doctorate andno one can take that away from me. But Istill always feel working class…I think myidentity will always be that.” Another saidshe sees the world from her working classbackground. She described it as “living twolives – work and home.” The gulf betweenwork and home widens as they move upthe educational ladder of achievement.Even though participants are eligible formembership in the privileged class by virtueof their degrees, they find connection withthe privileged class is unpalatable becauseof differing values. They perceived thatthose who are privileged are aloof, a char-acteristic that separates them from workingclass people who earn a living by workingwith their hands. A participant said thatworking class people cannot forget wherethey come from. Social class backgroundpermeates present experiences.

Social class can be an obstacle for collegegraduates who want to become profes-sionals. Accessing the system, adjusting to

Social Class continued on page F9

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Toward the end of last semester, an older African American graduate student asked me during my office

hours, “In all the articles that we read forclass, why are Blacks always consideredat-risk? Has this always been the case? Howdo I explain this to my children? I reallywant to know.”

“Well,” I said, “this is a difficult set of ques-tions, but I assure you that it is not becauseof racial or biological differences. It hasmore to do with lack of opportunity, lowquality education, and income level.” Thenshe asked me, “But why are more blackpeople poor?” At that point, I talked aboutmajor gaps in education, and even brieflyabout the long-term impact of segregationand slavery. I admit I was caught a bit off

guard, but I felt strongly that I did not wantthe student leaving my office thinking thatshe or her children were at-risk merelybecause of skin color. I think I managed toconvince her, partly by asking her to thinkof examples that we had discussed in classwhere at-risk children had benefited fromprograms such as the Perry Preschool andAbecedarian Projects.

After the student left my office, though, Ikept thinking about her questions. At aboutthis same time I saw the call for submissionfor the next Family Focus on “Social Class.”Thus, I began discussing such questions withmy colleagues and involved my husband inthe discussion as I knew he, as an econo-mist, would have a great perspective onsuch issues. Here is what we came up with.

What is Race, Anyway?

A variable often closely tied to achievementand adjustment is race. Race is best definedas categorizing individuals by a sharedcommon ancestry, although it is oftenassociated with skin color, eye shape andother outwardly physical characteristics.The concept of race was once thought toidentify most accurately the systematicbiological differences in people. However,we now know that there is no singlegenetic difference found in one race and notanother. Skin color, most often pointed toas an indicator of racial differences, is tiedto geographic proximity to the equatorand is independent of genetic differencesin hair, eye shape, let alone more complexcharacteristics such as intelligence or

At-Risk? continued on page F10

contrasting world views, and negotiatingdual roles are part of the academic experi-ence for those from a lower socioeconomicclass. Even though some of these experi-ences may be inevitable, others can beaddressed by being aware of what the expe-rience of higher education is like for thosewhose families have never attended college.

Because those who come from a workingclass background do not have familymembers who “have been there” and whounderstand and can guide them throughthe experience, it is important that thosewho counsel individuals from lowersocioeconomic levels help them negotiatethe difficult college consideration process.Advising students about what to expect,when to visit colleges, how to choose acollege, and how to complete the paper-work for admission and financial aid is anecessity for those whose families havenot been through the process.

In addition, mentors can be especiallyimportant for ensuring comfort with andsuccess in academic endeavors. Mentorsare often the reason that people learn howto acclimate themselves to what seems likethe foreign environment of college orgraduate school. Mentors can provideinformation about resources for help withwriting, using a computer, getting assistanceusing the library, and tutoring servicesthat can provide additional support foracademic pursuits.

If academic institutions provide a forum fordiscussing class issues people from lowersocioeconomic classes might feel lessisolated. Because class is rarely discussedin academic settings, individuals from theworking class often feel isolated. Thisisolation may result in higher attrition rates.This study addressed the perception thatindividuals from the working class have oftheir experience in higher education andilluminates an area that is often overlooked.

For more information, contact ReggieCurran at [email protected]

SOCIAL CLASScontinued from page F8

Does Minority Status

Put an Individual At-Risk?by Amanda Sheffield Morris, PhD, Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Science;and Michael D. S. Morris, PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor, Economics and Legal Studies andBusiness, Oklahoma State University

Reggie Curran Steven B. Frye Cathy A. Pierce Mary Ziegler

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It is, therefore, something in theindividual or family that appears to be associated with success or failure...

other talents. In fact, there is far moregenetic variation within racial groups thanbetween them, and approximately 85% ofall variation can be found within any singleracial group.

If it is not strongly genetically-based,then perhaps examining race is more anidentification of shared cultural and socialtraditions better defined as ethnicity. Thisis not the same as race, as one can havevery different ethnic traditions, for example,but still have a common African racialancestry. Yet if this is what you want toexamine or control-for in your research,you might be better served by identifyingspecific cultural or behavioral norms youthink are the contributing factors as op-posed to a broad ethnic label. The keyvariables likely involve more localized,family-specific settings and behaviors.

Race, Income, and Minority Status

Income differences in households arestrongly associated with future education,earnings, delinquency, and health ofhousehold members. These income differ-ences not only correlate with differentracial and ethnic groups but the impact ofincome differences also are robust acrossincreasingly mixed racial and ethnic back-grounds that defy categorization. Even moreimportantly, there are strong theoreticalreasons why income differences matter:lower income households often have lessaccess to healthcare, less access to educa-tional materials, and are regularly understress to meet basic needs.

Income is tied to the availability of resourcesand opportunities, which would thennaturally correlate with differences inachievement and adjustment. Racial differ-ences in wealth, net assets, are even morestriking than income disparities. On average,white households in the U.S. have abouteight times the wealth of Black households.However, when comparing householdswith the same income level across race, thatdifference falls to about two times thewealth, closing the gap somewhat, but adisparity remains. The reason this differencepersists is that wealth accumulates and ispassed on between generations, so thesedifferences in wealth and the associated

AT-RISK? continued from page F9

opportunities are an accumulation of pastfinancial opportunities.

The link between wealth and incomedifferences and racial differences in theU.S. is at least partially a result of pastdiscrimination and limited opportunities asa minority. Minority status simply meansbeing in a smaller group in the surround-ing population. There can be a stress andstrain in being a minority, and minoritystatus can also highlight alack of opportunities dueto discrimination. Butusing the concept ofminority status isalso complex as mi-nority groups can havehigher income averagesand achievement levels;Asian households in somecommunities in the U.S. may beone example. In addition, some minoritygroups, such as Latinos, are now in themajority in some U.S. cities.

And yet, even here, does race, ethnicity,minority status and income drive achieve-ment and adjustment or put one at-risk?Yes, at least somewhat to the extent that itpresents opportunities or a lack thereof.But delving further, one begins to thinkmore specifically about the behavioralsetting that might correlate with success.One of the strongest predictors of futureeducational attainment of children in theU.S. is a mother’s level of education. Theimportance of this variable suggests a behav-ioral difference in the family environment– beyond race, or ethnicity, or even income.This might be the factor you most want toidentify (such as maternal encouragementof achievement or parental expectations)when predicting achievement and overalladjustment.

Can Education be the Great Equalizer?

It does not take much effort for anyone torealize the vast inequalities in education inour country, and that the race variable isobviously confounded with quality ofeducation. Go into any inner-city, failingschool and compare it to a suburbanschool or an inner-city magnet nearby. Itcan be argued that we have a two-tier

system of education in our country. So,what happens when you put an at-riskchild in a better school? The results arequite striking, at least for early childhoodeducation.

Longitudinal, controlled studies havefound that low-income children participat-ing in high quality preschool programs aremore likely to attend a 4 year college,have children later in life, complete more

education, earn higher wages,have higher scores on cognitivetests, and have fewer arrests,compared to children notparticipating in such programs.According to Nobel Laureateeconomist James Heckman,

one of the highest returns oninvestments that society can

make is investing in quality earlychildhood education and environments.

More research needs to be done on theeffects of quality schooling among olderchildren, with comparable control groups,but we argue that it is likely that qualityeducation is indeed the most advantageousand ethical way to improve the lives ofat-risk children and youth.

Does minority status put a person at risk?Certainly much more than biological racemust be considered when answering sucha question. We argue that an individual isnot at risk because of the genes associatedwith skin color, but it is the social responseto skin color in many cases that can put anindividual at-risk. It is more likely that thelack of income and poor education put anindividual at risk. Moreover, many studiesin the social sciences attempting to explainsuccess, achievement, and/or mental healthfind that race, ethnicity, and even incomeexplain only a small portion of the variance.It is, therefore, something in the individualor family that appears to be associated withsuccess or failure; we argue that that some-thing is much more than skin color or race.Indeed, context (e.g., income, parenting,and educational opportunities) and indi-vidual characteristics (e.g., temperament,beliefs, and personality) must be consid-ered when examining risk and resiliency.

For more information, [email protected].

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Not surprisingly,the women with the best chances of exercising their preferences are those who defer family formation until they have completed their education.

The strength of the linkage betweensocial class and education is pro-found. Throughout most of our

history, education has been inaccessible toall but the most privileged in our society,thereby holding most people in the socialclass to which they were born. TomMortenson of The Pell Institute for theStudy of Opportunity in Higher Educationreported recently that even today, 79 per-cent of bachelor’s degrees go to those inthe top two family income quartiles, aproportion that has not changed more thana few points in the past thirty years despitediversification efforts by postsecondaryeducation. As sociologist Max Weber notedin the 1940s, social classes are differenti-ated on the basis of wealth, power, andprestige. According to the large body ofsocial attainment literature, educationalattainment is a catalyst for all three, par-ticularly among males.

Females are another story. Traditionally, awoman’s social class was identified first bythat of her family of origin and then by theoccupation of her spouse. Regardless ofher own educational attainment, a womanmarried to a physician functioned in a highersocial class than the wife of the pharmacist.Until equal opportunity laws openedprestigious occupations to greater numbersof females, the young women sent tocollege by their families were intent onobtaining the degree having the greatesteffect on social class, i.e., the one with theinitials MRS. We know from mate selectionresearch that a woman’s prospects wereimproved when she married “up”. Whatbetter place to look for a potential spousepreparing himself for an occupation ofsome prestige than on a college campus?

As I watch the mating rituals among collegestudents each spring, I am reminded thatthis approach continues unabated despite

Female Educational

Attainment and Family

Formation: Which Comes First?by Cynthia S. Reeser, Doctoral Student, Department of Family Studies, University of Kentucky

the economic realities of contemporarysociety. What today’s female students maynot comprehend is that they will be in thelabor force along with the young men theymarry—not necessarily to improve theirsocial class but, all too frequently, in orderto simply maintain it. Dual incomes havebecome the norm, even for those womenwho would prefer to be what CatherineHakim calls “home-centered”. In her 2003explanation of female lifestyle preferences,Hakim estimated that indeveloped countriessuch as Britainand the UnitedStates, the per-centage of women atopposite ends of thefamily/careercontinuum isroughly equal at20 percent each.The 60 percent in themiddle are made up of “adaptable” women,including those who plan their educationin order to accommodate work and familylife as well as those without a plan, whosechoices are contextually informed by socialnorms, mate availability, early familyformation, and the local job market.

Based on her body of research on womenin poverty, Claudia J. Heath of the Univer-sity of Kentucky uses the term “purpose-less drift” to describe those females whoselifestyle and educational choices remainexternally-driven by traditional roles andlimited local economic opportunities.With a rural population twice that of thenational average (44 percent versus 22percent), the percentage of women whofall into this category in Kentucky may bereasonably presumed to be higher thanHakim’s international figures.

Interestingly enough, the persistent opinionamong the young female students in myresearch methods class, most from themiddle class, is that they will be able tomanage work and family formation sequen-tially. However, the odds of that happeningare not high, a fact already well known tomy nontraditional students.

Female employment is not a recent phe-nomenon. Women have worked outside

the home in large numbers at least sinceWorld War II when the short labor

supply made employment asmuch a patriotic duty as a

matter of economics.The differencebetween those

days and today is thatwhen the men returned,

mothers with children stillat home left the workplace to

care for them. Now women doboth. Census Bureau reports over the last

four decades have shown a steady increasein the rate of female labor force participa-tion, from 37.7 percent in 1960 to 60 percentin the year 2000. Most of that increase isaccounted for by mothers of increasinglyyounger children, including newborns.Mandatory parental leave policies and theincreased availability of child care arecontemporary indicators that work andfamily formation are not, in fact, sequential.

Where once a woman’s social status wastied to her familial roles (e.g., married ornot, with children or not), today she is justas likely as her male counterpart to beasked “What do you do?” With the increasein dual-income households necessitated bythe decline in real wages since the 1970s,far fewer can afford to stay out of theworkforce for an extended period in order

Which Comes First? continued on page F12

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I did things backwards. I had kids, thengot married and then chose a career. I hopemy kids do things the other way around.– Mother of two

I hope they can all find a job that will givethem the income to support a family. I hopethey all finish school up to and includingcollege. That they don’t start a family untilthey’re done [with school]. – Father of four

These two parents, like parents in general,hope for a life that offers their childrenbroader choices than they experienced.As parent they have made moves to securesuch a life for their children. Both haveachieved the status of homeowner andboth live in a small town they see as a goodplace to raise their children. Yet for both,their hopes of a brighter future for their

children are potentially challenged bysocial class and place as these are workingpoor parents who call a trailer park home—a neighborhood they readily identify as“second best.”

Despite the achievement ideology ofAmerican culture that motivates dreams ofsocial mobility, we know most kids grow

Reaching for Success continued on page F13

to devote themselves exclusively tochildrearing. Yet, parental involvementremains a key predictor of healthy child-hood development regardless of socialclass. In our advocacy of practices that aregood for children, I wonder if we helpplace our female students on the horns ofa dilemma. Which comes first, educationor family formation, and which is moreimportant? Do our students really under-stand education’s connection to social class,especially those students at risk of not com-pleting their degrees? Just as importantly,what are our own perspectives on whathappens to a woman’s career after thechildren arrive, and how do we telegraphthose perspectives? The questions are mademore complicated by the prevalence ofsingle-parent households, predominantlyheaded by women, many of whom areundereducated and poor. According to theBureau of Labor Statistics, half of America’shouseholds reported annual incomes in2004 of less than $30,000.

As Kathryn Hynes and Marin Clarkbergfound in their 2005 study of the employ-ment patterns of new mothers, femalechoices are both highly individualistic andcontext-based. Six different patterns emergedin their research, with age at first birth and

educational attainment predicting women’smovement out of and back into the laborforce. Not surprisingly, the women with thebest chances of exercising their preferencesare those who defer family formation untilthey have completed their education.

Many women do not. Every semester Iencounter a few meeting one or more ofthe six characteristics the National Centerfor Educational Statistics (NCES) hasdeveloped for determining nontraditionalstudent status. Despite NCES estimatesthat 73 percent of postsecondary studentsfit that description, much of campus lifecontinues to be geared to the traditionally-aged student. Women adding school totheir already difficult work and child careschedules enter the classroom culture at adisadvantage. These liabilities often adddepth to our discussions of family studiestopics. More problematic are the times whenchild care issues threaten academic successthrough persistent tardiness, excessiveabsences, and the occasional child broughtto the classroom. The women who persistto graduation are a determined lot. TheNCES has found that only half of collegestudents who enter postsecondary institu-tions with multiple nontraditional charac-teristics are still enrolled three years later.

WHICH COMES FIRST? continued from page F11

Does educationalattainment reallymatter for the 80percent of womenHakim estimatedto be other thanwork-centered? Intheir 2003 study offertility patternsbased on economicmodeling, Davidde la Croix and Matthias Doepke offer acompelling argument in the affirmative.Women of different social classes producefamilies of different sizes, with largerfamilies typically found in less advantagedclasses. These are also the classes makinglower educational investments, for a vari-ety of reasons. The authors point out that,ultimately, this recurring pattern will havea multiplier effect on our society’s abilityto accumulate human capital. The resultswill be an ever widening gap betweensocial classes and our increased difficultyin remaining competitive in the globaleconomy. Does female educational attain-ment matter? You bet it does.

For more information, contact CynthiaReeser at [email protected]

Cynthia Reeser

Reaching for Success from a

Place Seen as ‘Second Best’:

Social Class, Trailer Park

Residence and Youth Developmentby Katherine MacTavish, Assistant Professor, Oregon State University

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While a mobile home park offers affordable access to small town residence, it remainsa stigmatized place that densely clusters together a community’s younger, poorer, and less educated residents in a manner much like a ghetto—a place we know to narrow the life chance of children.

REACHING FOR SUCCESS continued from page F12

up to reproduce the class status of theirparents. While a mobile home park offersaffordable access to small town residence,it remains a stigmatized place that denselyclusters together a community’s younger,poorer, and less educated residents in amanner much like a ghetto—a place weknow to narrow the life chance of children.

As part of a year long ethnographic fieldstudy we examined the developmentalpathways available to ten youth growingup in a trailer park just outside of the up-scale village of “Prairieview, Illinois.”While Prairieview offered many resourcesand opportunities that might support suc-cessful development, we found few parkyouth realized such benefits. Onlytwo youth in our study manageda pathway offering a chancefor social mobility thattheir parents hope for.

At 15 years of age “Trinity”was flourishing. She lived withher mother and new stepfather inan older singlewide home. The wornbrown carpeting and a sleeping bag hungfor a living room curtain reflected thefamily’s precarious financial situation. Yether mother proudly proclaimed, “Trinity’snot your typical trailer park kid—she’s astraight A student, a cheerleader and onthe dance team.”

Melanie, who lived with grandparents inan older home along the edge of the trailerpark, likewise made good marks in schoolas a straight “A” students, was popular withher church group peers, and consistentlyabided by the rules.

Trinity and Melanie stood out among theirtrailer park peers with a shine of success.Among the other youth, four appearedstatic headed toward socially reproducingtheir parents working-poor class status andanother four were floundering, headingtoward compromised development andnarrowed life chances. What did it take forthese two youth to flourish in their trailerpark neighborhood?

Reaching for success

Two features characterized Trinity andMelanie’s construction of a flourishingpathway. First, they had purposely distanced

themselves from their trailer park neigh-borhood; virtually avoiding all contactwith childhood peers and places. Second,they had become a member of the com-munity outside their trailer park. Trinityexplained, “I don’t like living in a trailerpark, but really I don’t feel like I’m a partof it. I like Prairieview and that’s where Ifeel I belong.” She began her transitionaway from the park and toward town inseventh grade when a school friend invitedher to church. Since, she had developed anintense relationship with this friend and herfamily as well as with teachers, coachesand clergy. Daily life for Trinity includedcheerleading practice, church youth group,school chorus and a paid job in town.

Melanie’s life centered on her churchactivities. She credits several adults—ayouth minister, a Sunday school teacher,and the lady who drove the church busand gave her hand-me down clothes as withhaving significantly influenced her life. Overspring break Melanie traveled to spendtime with her minister’s family. That nextfall she began attending a small, privatehigh school run by the church.

Trinity and Melanie both had broadenedtheir developmental world to include manymiddle-class people, places, and activities.

In contrast, the world of floundering youthcentered on the trailer park. Pressed byperceptions of stigmatization as trailer

trash in town, these youth had narrowedtheir daily lives to a small set of social tiesconcentrated in the trailer park neighbor-hood. As they became part of “the wrongcrowd,” they were essentially alienatedfrom community life outside the circum-scribed boundaries of the park.

Parenting toward successParenting toward successParenting toward successParenting toward successParenting toward success

For their part, the parents of both flourish-ing youth invested time, energy, and evenmoney in supporting their child’s transi-tion away from the park and toward town.Trinity’s mother explained, “Trinity hatedriding the bus. You could see it—she wouldstand off away from the other kids. Here’sTrinity and here’s all the other kids fightingand cussing. She told me, ‘Mom I’m not

like those other kids.’ After that Inever put her on the bus again.”

Although their home was modest,Trinity always wore the right brand

named clothes that would ensure shefit in in this upscale town. Her motherselflessly sacrificed personal timeduring the day to support Trinity’sengagement in town by driving herto various activities.

Melanie’s parents also invested in her devel-opmental success. During an interview hermother (actually biological grandmother)said, I hope you don’t mind if I fold thesenewspapers while we talk. Melanie has apaper route and I like to have the papersready when she gets home.” Her father(biological grandfather) supplied her witha modest car that would allow her to driveto her many church activities.

For both, the availability to family timewas key to parents’ investment in youth.Trinity’s mother had a job that allowed fora flexible work schedule that she dictated.Melanie’s mother had a disability thatkept her home full time and father wassemi-retired.

Implications

While this study focused only one commu-nity we have seen these same patternsaround the intersection of class, place, andyouth development in subsequent studiesin both New Mexico and Oregon. Inter-vention efforts could help change these

Reaching for Success continued on page F14

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Commentators often emphasize the disorganization and dysfunction of Black and Latino/a family life.

Many report that minority men, especiallyBlacks, have abandoned their families. Theyoften imply that if we could fix family valuesin minority communities, all their problemswould be solved. But they overlook some-thing far more important: class inequalities.

Racial Differences in Extended Families

First and foremost, families are not justnuclear units consisting of mother, fatherand young children. If we look at familiesof color, it becomes especially importantto be more inclusive by recognizing ties toadult children, aging parents, grandparents,brothers, sisters, cousins, and other kin.Doing so refutes the myth of minorityfamily disorganization. According to ourresearch using the second wave of theNational Survey of Families and House-holds, in many ways Blacks and Latinos/as have stronger ties to their extendedfamilies than do Whites:

� These minorities, both women and men,are much more likely than Whites toshare a home with extended kin – 42%of Blacks, 38% of Mexican Americans,39% of Puerto Ricans, but only 20% ofWhites live with relatives.

� Similar patterns obtain for living nearrelatives: 54% of Blacks, 52% of MexicanAmericans, and 59% of Puerto Ricansbut only 37% of Whites live close to kin(within 2 miles).

� Blacks and Latinos/as are also morelikely than Whites to visit kin frequently.For example, 76% of Blacks, 71% ofLatinos/as, but 63% of Whites see theirrelatives face-to-face once a week or more.

� Blacks and Latinos/as are more likelythan Whites to give and receive practicalhelp such as assistance with householdwork, child care and babysitting, as well

as rides and running errands. In contrast,Whites are more likely than ethnicminorities to give and receive moneyand emotional support.

The Importance of Gender

Many of these differences exist only amongwomen. Black women and Latinas aremuch more likely than White women togive and receive help with housework andchild care. In contrast, Black, Latino, andWhite men are quite similar in terms ofhelping out – they only differ in terms ofgiving and receiving large-scale financialhelp (with White men more likely to givesuch help). Although Black and Latino menare more likely than White men to live nearrelatives and to stay in touch with them,they are very similar to White men in termsof providing or getting help and support.

This is in stark contrast to the popularperception of minority men as sociallymarginalized and disengaged from theirfamilies. Although many suggest that Blackmen are substituting street-corner networks

for familial ones, this is not the case whenwe look at their involvement with parents,brothers, sisters, and other relatives.

How Do We Explain Race Differences:

Is it Culture or Class?

We often hear arguments that racial andethnic differences in family experiencescan be traced to cultural differences, suchas differences in religiosity, beliefs aboutthe importance of family, and genderideologies. Proponents of a cultural ap-proach view Black family patterns as thecultural legacy of slavery and subsequentyears of oppression or reflections of valuesrooted in Africa. These earlier experiences,they say, shaped the values of Blacks as agroup, which in turn continue to shapetheir family involvement. Similarly, theyargue that Latino/a families are culturallydistinctive either because they trace theirroots to indigenous cultures such as Aztecor Taino or because the history of Spanishcolonial rule in Latin America resulted intraditions, values, and religion which

Extended Family continued on page F15

Katherine MacTavish

patterns. Efforts that work toward elimi-nating the social distance between workingpoor trailer park families and small townresources would help. Training teacher,coaches and clergy in the art of mentoringlower-income youth would go far tostrengthen the social capacity of smalltowns like Prairieview to support thesuccessful development of youth from allsocial classes. Developing opportunitiesfor youth to engage in productive activitieswithin their trailer park would make theneighborhood a more developmentallyresourceful place. Helping families developeffective parenting strategies for managingfloundering youth would shore up thedevelopment of such youth. Helping youthunderstand how to resist stigmatization

REACHING FOR SUCCESS continued from page F13

could help sustainengagement in thecommunity. Inter-vention effortssuch as these couldhelp support thedevelopment of anestimated 5 millionchildren and youthgrowing up in arural trailer park.

This research was funded by a United StatesDepartment of Agriculture National ResearchInitiatives Grant to Dr. Sonya Salamon. Afull report of findings appears in an articlein the April 2006 issue of Family Relations.Dr. MacTavish can be reached [email protected] .

Race, Class, and

Extended Family Involvementby Natalia Sarkisian, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Boston College andNaomi Gerstel, PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

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F15

Our researchshows thatclass trumps culture.

persist among Latinos/as in the UnitedStates today.

Others insist that social class rather thanculture is the key to understanding Blackand Latino/a families. It is widely knownthat Blacks and Latinos/as have less income,wealth, and education than Whites. Somescholars argue that economic deprivationamong racial/ethnic minorities is respon-sible for higher levels of extended familyinvolvement, arguing that it is the lack ofeconomic resources that increases the needfor help from kin and reduces opportunitiesto migrate away from them. Other scholarsalso emphasize the importance of class butreverse the argument, saying that economicdeprivation severely restricts the time andmoney available to be shared with kin,separating people from their relatives.

Our research shows that class trumpsculture. The extended family differencesbetween Whites and ethnic minorities areprimarily the result of social class: Thosewith more income and education are morelikely to give or get money and emotionalsupport, but they are also less likely to livewith or near kin or to provide practicalassistance. Simply put, Blacks, Latinos/as,and Whites of the same social class haveabout the same level and kind of involve-ment with their relatives.

EXTENDED FAMILY continued from page F14

Resources on Social Class

The Future of Children Journal, Opportunity in

America, is an anthology of articles on Social Mobility

edited by Isabel Sawhill and Sara McClanahan.

It’s available free on-line in PDF format.

www.futureofchildren.org .

The Urban Institute offers numerous studies, reports and books on social class

and related topics—many free on PDF. Visit www.urban.org .

The Center for Law and Policy (CLASP) provides a diverse collection of

resources on low-income families and public policy at www.clasp.org .

Princeton’s Fragile Family and Child Well-being Study website is located

at http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/ .

The U.S. Census is the go-to source for governmental demograph ;y in the

“Families and Households” division, there is a specific section available on

poverty located at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html .

To be sure, differences in values do exist.Blacks and Latinos/as are more likely thanWhites to say they believe that extendedfamily is important; they are also more likelyto attend religious services. Moreover, theydiffer in their beliefs about gender roles:Blacks hold more egalitarian beliefs thanWhites, while Latinos/as, especially Mexi-can Americans, are more traditional. Butthese differences in values do not explainracial differences in actual involvementwith relatives. It is, instead,class that matters in thiscountry today.

These findings do notmean that ethnicity doesnot affect family life; it does.The class standing of Whitesand ethnic minorities are far from equal,and as race/ethnicity shapes class position, itis key for understanding family experiences.

What Does This Mean for Social Policy?

These research findings have importantimplications for the ways we design socialpolicy. Family policies that take into accountonly nuclear family obligations are toonarrow and may introduce, reproduce, oreven increase ethnic inequalities. The rela-tives of Blacks and Latinos/as are morelikely than those of Whites to providevarious kinds of support that policy tends

to assume is only provided by husbandsand wives. Policies that do not takeextended kin obligations into account areespecially neglectful of minorities. Forexample, the Family and Medical LeaveAct only guarantees unpaid leaves to providecare to spouses, children or elderly parentsrequiring medical attention. Similarly,substance abuse rehabilitation programsoften provide arrangements for child carewhile a parent participates in the program.

These do not provide arrange-ments for care given to extended

family members, such as elderlyparents, adult children, and needy

grown up brothers or sisters. Ourfindings suggest that such policies

must be broadened if we really wantto support families.

Policymakers also must recognize that classmatters more than cultural values. Supportfrom family cannot compensate for thedisadvantages of being poor, or minority,or both. For example, minorities are lesslikely than Whites to give money to relativesor receive money from them becauseBlacks and Latinos/as are more often poor.Therefore, minorities face a double disad-vantage: Not only are they more likely tohave to survive on low incomes and little, ifany, wealth, but they also do not get muchmoney from kin, because their relatives arein the same situation. TANF might exacer-bate this problem by reducing extendedfamilies’ ability to continue providing sup-port. Distinctions found in some policiesbetween family care and non-familial caremay also increase economic disadvantage.For example, Medicaid regulations thatonly pay for non-familial care discriminateagainst Blacks and Latinos/as who providesignificant amounts of care to extendedkin. Recent welfare policy that allowsparents to pay kin for providing child caremay help rectify some of these inequalities.

Finally, the different levels of kin supportamong Blacks, Latinos/as and Whitesshould not determine who gets help–rather, the ability of existing supports tomeet existing needs must be considered.

For more information, contact the authorsat [email protected] [email protected].

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Copyright ©2007 by the National Council on Family Relations. One copy of any portion of this publication can be made for personal use.Additional reprints of this publication are available by contacting NCFR headquarters at the address above. Bulk rates available.

Family Focus On...

NCFR Conference 2006 in Minneapolis

upper left: Lynette Olson, Chair of the Education and Enrichment Section, confers the 2006 Margaret Arcus Award to Joan Comeaux.

upper right: RaeAnn Hamon received the Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Service to the CFLE Program for 2006.

above left: NCFR President-Elect Maxine Hammonds-Smith and President Pamela Monroe.

abvove right: Harriet McAdoo and Edith Lewis congratulate Cindy Winter on her phenomenal career. A proud spouse, Doug Winter, looks on.

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Documents

Family Focus On: Families and Social Class