The Consequences of Childhood Inequality

Posted by University of Pennsylvania on June 29, 2015

Penn Arts and Sciences Magazine: Childhood Inequality

Cover story on Annette Lareau, Stanley I. Sheerr Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences, and “The Consequences of Childhood Inequality.”

“In America, every child is told he or she can grow up to be president,” says Annette
Lareau. “But success is not a result of confidence and aspirations alone.” Americans, more than any other population, believe this narrative—but research suggests a disconnect between this perception and reality. Lareau has dedicated her career to understanding the key components that impact children’s outcomes, and in order to achieve success, she says, kids need access to knowledge about how the system works—access they often depend on their guardians to provide. “Different parenting strategies lead to dissimilar rewards. Often, success requires child-rearing practices that are in sync with the attitudes and expectations of dominant institutions.”

In her groundbreaking 2003 book Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life, Lareau, the Stanley I. Sheerr Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences, describes two distinct parenting styles, and how each affects development. “If you want a quick glimpse at someone’s parenting style just check the household calendar,” Lareau says. “If the days are crammed full of back-to-back soccer games and school plays, chances are you’re looking at the heavily-regimented schedule of a middle-class family.” This parenting style, coined “concerted cultivation,” is a stark contrast to the “natural
growth” style found in a typical blue-collar household, where parents tend to expect their children to find ways to fill their own unstructured hours. And while concerted cultivation might have its drawbacks—children developing a sense of entitlement,
for instance—lack of parental involvement puts children at a disadvantage. “Not having attended college themselves, many working class parents rely on teachers and other
professionals to direct their children’s educational experience,” says Lareau.