In her book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau argues out that the influences of social class, as well as, race result in unequal childhoods (Lareau 1). However, one could query the inequality of childhood. To understand this, it is necessary to infer from the book and assess the manner in which race and social class tend to shape the life of a family. As the scholar demonstrates, each race and social class usually has its own unique way of child upbringing based on circumstances. To affirm this, the different examples that the scholar presents in the book could be used. Foremost, citing the case of both the White and the African American families, the scholar advances that the broader economics of racial inequality has continued to hamper the educational advancement and blocks access to high-paying jobs with regard to the Blacks as opposed to the Whites. Other researchers have affirmed this where they indicate that the rate of unemployment among the African Americans is twice that of the White Americans. Research further advances that, in contrast to the Whites, for those African Americans who are employed, there is usually a greater chance that they have been underemployed, receive lower wages, as well as, inconsistent employment. This is how the case of unequal childhood based on race comes about; children from the Black families will continue residing in poverty as opposed to those from the white families. Besides race, the scholar also reveals how childhoods are unequal based on social class. Drawing from the American society, there are several social classes. For each class, there are unique pathways of lives followed and these usually influence both the educational and work outcomes. To ... ... middle of paper ... ...oming to an understanding of the daily struggles of every person, who attempts to raise a child in the American society. Inferring from the book, the extent to which the scholar discusses race as a key influence of childhood inequality is not as extended as that of social class. This is clear evidence that the Lareau dwells much on social class as the principal and prevalent theme in the American society towards parenting and child bearing (4). Indeed, at some point, Lareau reports that while race produces childhood inequality, most outcomes for children, from interactions to education, largely depends with social stratification (4). Therefore, she discusses that social class is more influential in relation to race. Works Cited Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011. Print.
Robert Staples in Sociocultural Factors in Black Family Transformation: Toward a Redefinition of Family Functions goes on to further analysis and critique Moynihan’s report. Staples identify several flaws within his argument, including that the fact that African Americans are not a monolithic unit (19), the numerous reasons for fatherhood absence, and the socioeconomic factors that shape the structure of African American families (21). Staples main critique of the Moynihan report is that marginalization of the Black community is not due to the dysfunction of Black families, rather the economic basis is the fundamental cause that needs to be considered (23). For the most part, I would agree with Staples in saying that economic oppression is the cause of dysfunction within families. While reading Part One of The Black Family, the notion of respectability politics came to mind and how the role of hegemony plays in sociocultural relations. The influence of hegemony has shifted many of us into considering one-singular truth and Western ideologies have led to the shaping of ideas, mindsets, and cultures, all the way to family to dating and sexual patterns, African American culture is compared to European American
William Julius Wilson creates a thrilling new systematic framework to three politically tense social problems: “the plight of low-skilled black males, the persistence of the inner-city ghetto, and the fragmentation of the African American family” (Wilson, 36). Though the conversation of racial inequality is classically divided. Wilson challenges the relationship between institutional and cultural factors as reasons of the racial forces, which are inseparably linked, but public policy can only change the racial status quo by reforming the institutions that support it.
The book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life published in 2003, takes a close look into the lives of different families in the United States and how they are affected by race and social class and how their family lives differ. The Author, Annette Lareau, discusses how social class affects the parenting styles and how these parenting styles are affecting the children. Although Lareau’s book could use a few changes, it is well written and it is a good read to help better understand how social class and parenting styles can affect the lives of different children on a personal level. In
As much as society tries to deny the fact that the family that one comes from determines their fate, in almost every case this very fact is true. Today, we see how infants who are born into wealthy families are treated differently than children who are born into drug and disease-stricken poverty. Higher classed people stand out in society on both a local and national level much more than the average middle class working family.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
Although there were numerous efforts to attain full equality between blacks and whites during the Civil Rights Movement, many of them were in vain because of racial distinctions, white oppression, and prejudice. Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi recounts her experiences as a child growing up in Centreville, Mississippi. She describes how growing up in Mississippi in a poor black family changed her views of race and equality, and the events that took place that changed her life forever. She begins her story at the tender age of 4, and describes how her home life changed drastically with the divorce of her parents, the loss of her home, and the constant shuffle from shack to shack as her mother tried to keep food on the table with the meager pay she earned from the numerous, mostly domestic, jobs she took. On most days, life was hard for Anne, and as she got older she struggled to understand why they were living in such poverty when the white people her mother worked for had so many nice things, and could eat more than bread and beans for dinner. It was because of this excessive poverty that Anne had to go into the workforce at such an early age, and learn what it meant to have and hold a job in order to provide her family. Anne learned very young that survival was all about working hard, though she didn’t understand the imbalance between the work she was doing and the compensation she received in return.
Keeping with the legacy of American history, the African American family is a topic of controversy and concern. While other aspects of the family are studied, it could be argued that the area of African American motherhood receives the most attention. Unequivocally, African American mothers are depicted as matriarchs, crack-mothers, and welfare queens. In addition, Black mothers are often portrayed as lazy, irresponsible, destructive, and even worthless. These stereotypical images of African American mothers are important because they have powerful implications for African American moms, and for their families at large.
Furthermore, Chapter 15 begins to explain educational inequality. In the United States, education is available but not to every child in the same way. Different social-classes means different schools, instructions, criteria, rates, and times. In addition to class differences, races and ethnics unfortunately play a role in educational achievement. For example, in general, African Americans, Latino/a’s, and Native Americans usually do worse in school than white or Asian American students
The poverty that poor black Americans experience is often different from the poverty of poor whites. It is more isolating and esoteric. It fans out of family homes and inundates the entire neighborhood; the streets, the schools, the grocery stores, the community centers. A poor black family, in short, is much more likely than a poor white family to live in a neighborhood where many other families are poor. Creating what is called the "double standard" of poverty. “The sense of privilege that he [Marks], a multi-generation white class guy has to share his wisdom with all of those ‘poor black socially-orphaned children out there in the West Phillies of the world’ is astounding” (DNLee 256). Assuming that those children have no direction is a misconception that many white privileged Americans assume. And that assumption is why the life chances and opportunities of people of color in the United States are limited as compared to whites. Place continues to be a defining characteristics of the opportunity structure. Children growing up in more privileged neighborhoods often ponder what they will do when they grow up; as were poor children ponder on if they will even have the opportunity to grow up. The privileged are so blind that even they do not realize it, and they do not see that others are not privileged. As Cinderella’s privileges and opportunities were taken from her, her chance at the ‘good life’ was too. The element of the good life, however defined, is only accessible to those who are
The Pecking Order takes a bold look into the factors that separate family members within the social strata. The author Dan Walton, New York University (NYU) professor of sociology and public policy, asserts that the comfy safe haven that families are thought to be, aren’t as great as some may assume. Within these households lives a plethora of factors that alter the destinies of each child. These factors range from birth order, change in family finances, Divorce, Death, to even the “luck” of outside influences. What begins as slight nuances between each child goes on to be pivotal factors in the children’s lives as they mature.
Lareau, Annette. "1." Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley: U of California, 2003. Print.
Social class is a defining concept to each typical American family as it characterizes their place in society. It is important to use a structural diversity framework when demonstrating how class variation produces different social opportunities for each family. Structural conditions, such as class, race, and gender, all affect families differently, and create diverse family arrangements depending on their structural location. According to Maxinne Baca-Zinn in the textbook, Diversity in Families, using a structural perspective to study the stratifications associated to families demonstrates class, race, and gender all “foster group-based inequalities, are systems of subordination that shape family life and also place the family as a resistance
In today’s economy, it has become more evident just how different the classes are. Lower levels of SES do not have access to good schools, or decent health care, leading to a worse quality of life. Higher levels of SES have access to more resources and tend to allow children to develop self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control (American Psychological Association, 2014). The traditional family with two parents, the father works, and the mother stays is almost nonexistent. Households where the man works and the woman stays at home only represent 7% of the U.S. population (Malone, Stewart, Wilson & Korsching, 2010).
While researchers like Massey and Denton or Michelle Alexander accentuate race as a key component of inequality, Putnam glosses over some of the racial issues that should be brought up. For example, when he examines differences in parenting, Putnam quotes that “neither Stephanie nor her daughters believe that racial discrimination has limited their opportunities” (100). He then concludes, “perhaps [this is] because the barriers they encounter every day are more economic than racial” (100). Thus, rather than looking at the potential structural factors that may relate to race, Putnam settles on simply asking for personal opinions on how race place a role in inequality. Consequently, Putnam very accurately describes the crisis of the American Dream in terms of growing class differences. However, one of the key issues this researcher missed is on the impacts of race especially from a structural
Over time Black and Brown individuals have faced life changing obstacles that impact their choice to improve their educational background. This paper highlights my family’s educational background and how it motivates me to have high expectations with my education and to maintain high career goals. Even though the United States is known to be the land of opportunity, this country fails to provide individuals of color the similar opportunity the white individuals are given. My family is an example of attempting to achieve the American dream. As my grandparents escaped the Civil War in El Salvador to better their lives, they continued to work hard to improve the lives of their children. Money has always played a huge role among the Black and Brown