The Rules of the Game and the Uncertain Transmission of Advantage

Lareau, Annette; Evans, Shani Adia; Yee, April

doi:10.4324/9781315408545-28

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…For example, working‐class and poor parents “consult[] friends or relatives” about schools and “[take] quite seriously the recommendations or warnings provided by these informants” (Neild :282, 284; see also Pattillo, Delale‐O'Connor, and Butts ; Rhodes and DeLuca ). Middle‐ and upper‐middle‐class parents express a similar reliance on social networks for information to help them select among schools (Altenhofen, Berends, and White ; Holme ; Kimelberg and Billingham ; Lareau, Evans, and Yee ).…”

Section: Parental Social Network and School Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Subject to Evaluation: How Parents Assess and Mobilize Information from Social Networks in School Choice

Fong

2018

Sociological Forum

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A rich literature examines how information spreads through social networks to influence life opportunities. However, receiving information does not guarantee its use in decision making. This article analyzes information evaluation as a fundamental component of social network mobilization. The case of school choice, where the value of information may be more uncertain, brings this evaluative dimension to the forefront. Interviews with 55 parents in Boston show how parents selecting schools assess their social network ties as information sources, privileging information from those they perceive to have affinity and authority. These evaluative criteria map onto disparate networks to engender unequal mobilization of this information. The findings illuminate mechanisms sustaining inequality in social network mobilization and reorient scholars to consider processes underlying information use alongside information diffusion to attain a more complete understanding of how network resources are mobilized in action.

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Section: Parental Social Network and School Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Lareau et al. () show, secondhand information about schools is not necessarily a valuable resource and may even lead parents astray.…”

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confidence: 99%

Subject to Evaluation: How Parents Assess and Mobilize Information from Social Networks in School Choice

Fong

2018

Sociological Forum

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“…The result of these modes of childrearing are that working class children tend to develop a sense of constraint regarding their future, whereas middle-class children develop a sense of entitlement. These differences in aspirations and (realistic) expectations are exacerbated by the fact that middle-class children and their parents often seek and receive special attention and treatment from teachers and school administrations (Calarco 2014(Calarco , 2018Lareau, Evans, and Yee 2016); and by the fact that workingclass and middle-class children are likely to attend schools and live in neighborhoods where they are surrounded by similarly-minded children (Fiel 2015;Lareau and Goyette 2014;Owens 2016). Based on this perspective we can represent the hypothesized academic performance, aspirations and expectations by social class, neighborhood and school as follows (where "-" indicates lower and "+" indicates higher levels of academic performance, aspirations and expectations): where resources are lowest, students perform worst, and expect and aspire to little; but when resources are abundant, students will aim high, expect much and perform well in school (Table 2).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Great British Sorting Machine: Adolescents’ future in the balance of family, school and the neighborhood

Mijs¹,

Nieuwenhuis²

2018

Preprint

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Research calls attention to the divergent school and labor market trajectories of Europe’s youth while, across the Atlantic, researchers describe the long-lasting consequences of poverty on adolescent development. In this paper we incorporate both processes to shed a new light on a classic concern in the sociology of stratification: how are adolescents’ aspirations, expectations, and school performance shaped by the combined socioeconomic contexts of family, school and neighborhood life? Theoretically, social contexts provide children with cultural resources that may foster their ambitions and bolster their academic performance. Reference group theory instead highlights how seemingly positive settings can depress educational performance as well as aspirations and expectations. We empirically test these competing claims, drawing on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) which describes the school and neighborhood trajectories of 7,934 British children followed from birth to adolescence. We find that, generally, childhood school and neighborhood deprivation is negatively associated with adolescents’ school performance, aspirations and expectations for their future, in line with the cultural resource perspective. However, there are important exceptions to this pattern which point to reference group processes for (1) children of highly-educated parents, whose academic performance especially suffers from growing up in a poor neighborhood, and (2) for children from low-educated parents, whose academic aspirations and expectations are unexpectedly high when they either went to an affluent school or lived in an affluent neighborhood—but not both. We conclude by discussing implications for theory, policy and future research.

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“…The theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu (1977 , 1984 , 1986 ) on cultural capital is influential in the sociology of education, and stratification research more broadly ( Davies and Rizk 2018 ; Jaeger 2011 ; Laanan, Starobin, and Eggleston 2010 ; Lamont and Lareau 1988 ; Lareau 2003 ; Lareau, Evans, and Yee 2016 ). Scholars are interested in how cultural capital, that is the cultural resources recognized as correct by gatekeepers, relates to educational attainment and how it is passed down from one generation to the next.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%