Contents
Acknowledgments?ix
Introduction?1
Social Contexts Matter?3
Culture, Conditions, and Constraints: Themes and Variation in Explanations for Social Reproduction?5
Defensive and Strategic Parenting: An Illustration?8
Data?11
Overview of the Book?15
1.??Worlds Vastly Different: The Neighborhood and School Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Families?21
The School Contexts in Which Middle-Class and Working-Class Children Learn?21
The Residential Contexts of Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents?25
Summary?41
2.??Networks to Get Ahead and Networks to Get By?43
Measuring Social Networks?44
Class Differences in Social Network Resources?46
Class Differences in the Utilization of Social Network Resources?53
From Getting by to Getting Ahead?64
Summary?67
3.??Navigating Adolescence in Unequal Contexts?69
Vigilance Among the Working Class?69
Fostering Autonomy Among the Middle Class?79
Summary?85
4.??Opportunities to Participate: Unequal Contexts and Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation?87
Studying Parents? Engagement With Structured Activities?89
Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation?91
Parents? Expressed Cultural Logic?94
Schools as Equalizing Institutions?104
Financial and Institutional Constraints on Non-School Activities Among the Working Class?109
Summary?113
5.??In Search of a Good School: Middle-Class and Working-Class Parents? Navigation of the High School Application Process?119
Universal Participation in the Application Process?121
The Middle-Class Pursuit of an Elite Public Education?123
Working-Class Parents? Avoidance of Dangerous Schools?127
Teacher Assistance in Choosing Schools?134
Social Class Differences in High School Selectivity?137
Summary?137
6.??Unequal Contexts and Parents? Educational and Occupational Expectations?141
Educational Expectations?142
Occupational Expectations?145
The Meaning of Adolescent ?Mistakes??154
Summary?156
7.??The American Shift to Child-Centered Parenting?161
Child-Centered Parenting?163
Summary?172
Conclusion?175
Child-Centered Parenting?175
To Strategize and Defend?177
The Privilege to Live One?s Values?180
What Can We Do? Policy Recommendations?181
Appendix A: Sociodemographic Characteristics of Sample?185
Appendix B: List of Occupations Used in the Position Generator?187
Appendix C: Selected Characteristics of Individual Study Participants?188
Appendix D: Methodology?191
Appendix E: Re-Analysis of Social Class Differences in Structured Activity Participation Using a Multidimensional Measure of Social Class?203
Notes?213
References?221
Index?233
About the Authors?241
