
Unequal Childhoods
Class, Race, and Family Life, Second Edition, with an Update a Decade Later
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 3 months for $0.99/mo

Buy for $19.34
-
Narrated by:
-
Xe Sands
-
By:
-
Annette Lareau
Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously-as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided.
©2003; revised 2011 Annette Lareau (P)2011 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...












The book can be dry at certains points but that's hard to avoid when you have a research based non-fictinal book.
Overall it is a good investment regardless of what your opinion may be at the end
Very informative book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Eye opening
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Essential reading for everyone
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Masterful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Perspective
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book on the intersection of Culture, Class, and Education
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
That said, I found the book’s heavy focus on “concerted cultivation” in the early chapters somewhat overstated. The concept itself is useful, but the framing can feel rigid at times—as if middle-class childrearing strategies were universally consistent and uniformly advantageous. The early chapters invest a lot in delineating this parenting style and contrasting it with the "accomplishment of natural growth" model used by working-class families. But in the end, the long-term significance of these styles seems more modest than Lareau initially implies.
What's also interesting is that class played a larger role than race in upbringing. Also, all parents, even poor, really cared about their children and tried to do their best with their means, limited or not.
In that regard, the 2011 afterword—added nearly a decade after the original publication—is perhaps the most revealing and worthwhile part of the book. It tracks the same children into young adulthood and provides a refreshingly nuanced reflection on how class advantage continues to manifest. It also includes some candid self-critique from Lareau, including regrets about not observing senior year of high school and reflections on how families responded to her portrayal of them.
For readers mostly interested in how class shapes life trajectories, I’d almost recommend starting with the 2011 afterword and then going back to earlier chapters as needed. The theoretical ideas come alive most clearly when viewed over time.
Despite its few limitations, Unequal Childhoods remains a solid piece of work that captures the mundane, powerful ways that privilege is transmitted.
Excellent research, a bit tedious early kn
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
No. The data is repetitive and is written with a clear bias. While the information is important, it should be taken in from a different source.Has Unequal Childhoods turned you off from other books in this genre?
Not at all.What about Xe Sands’s performance did you like?
She was very easy to understand, reads at a good pace, and has a nice voice to listen to.Meh
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.