How Social Class Influences American Childrearing

This discussion focuses on the American sociologist Annette Lareau’s finding that family life is shaped by social class, as parents embrace different styles of childrearing based on their social class. Lareau argues that poor and working-class families carry out the “accomplishment of natural growth”. In contrast, middle-class families engage in a different style of childrearing: “concerted cultivation”. This talk will outline Lareau’s main ideas about family life, including critiques of her work.

Reading: Lareau, A. (2002). Invisible inequality: Social class and childrearing in black families and white families. American Sociological Review, 747-776.

Presenter:

Linda Quirke has been a faculty member in Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University since 2008, after completing her PhD at McMaster University in 2006. Her SSHRC-funded research focuses on family life: parenting magazine advice and children's leisure time. She has previously examined parenting advice regarding children’s body weight and foodwork, as well as education and research ethics. She teaches courses in research methods and sociology of families. She lives on the Haldimand Tract (Kitchener) and her teenaged children roast her for being a so-called parenting “expert”.

Cost: Free

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/LCC2dVKx3RMSB7GU8

This is part of the Maskwacis Cultural College Microlearning Series and is open to the public.
Contact Manisha Khetarpal by email  mkhetarpal@mccedu.ca or call toll free: 1 866 585 3925