Book  reading of Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life with Shaykh Abu Ubaid. 

The book studies the differences in parenting styles between poor/working-class families versus middle-class families.

It explains how inequality and disadvantages pass from one generation to the next within a single family.

The book documents how the different parenting styles of different social classes caused significant differences in children's personality, language, skills, talents and experiences. 

An absolute must-read for all parents and educators.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Unequal Childhoods

    • Lesson 1: Concerted Cultivation and the Accomplishment of Natural Growth, Cultural Repertoires

    • Lesson 2: Social Stratification and Individualism, Enduring Dilemmas, Organisation of this Book,Social Structure and Daily Life

    • Lesson 3: Established Professional Practices and Institutional Standards, Value of Cultivating the Child, Interventions in Institutions, Understanding Inequality, Organisation of Daily Life, The Hectic Pace of Concerted Cultivation: Garrett Tallinger

    • Lesson 4: The Hectic Pace of Concerted Cultivation: Garrett Tallinger cont.

    • Lesson 5: The Hectic Pace of Concerted Cultivation: Garrett Tallinger cont.

    • Lesson 6: The Hectic Pace of Concerted Cultivation: Garrett Tallinger cont., A Child’s Pace: Tyrec Taylor

    • Lesson 7: A Child’s Pace: Tyrec Taylor cont., Children’s Play Is forChildren: Katie Brindle

    • Lesson 8: Children’s Play Is for Children: Katie Brindle cont.

    • Lesson 9: Children’s Play Is for Children: Katie Brindle cont., Language Use, Developing a Child: Alexander Williams

    • Lesson 10: Developing a Child: Alexander Williams cont.

    • Lesson 11: Developing a Child: Alexander Williams cont., Language as a Conduit for Social Life: Harold McAllister

    • Lesson 12: Language as a Conduit for Social Life: Harold McAllister cont., Families and Institutions, Concerted Cultivation in Organisational Spheres: Stacey Marshall, Concerted Cultivation Gone Awry: Melanie Handlon

    • Lesson 13: Letting Educators Lead the Way: Wendy Driver, Beating with a Belt, Fearing “the School”: Little Billy Yanelli, The Power and Limits of Social Class

    • Lesson 14: Unequal Childhoodsand Unequal Adulthoods, Class Differences in Parents’ Information and Intervention in the Lives of Young Adults, Reflections on Longitudinal Ethnography and the Families’ Reactions to Unequal Childhoods, Unequal Childhoods in