Week 13: Race & Ethnicity, Social Class and Education

Race & Ethnicity: C&S: Duran 297-310, BB:  Perry
Social Class and Education: BB: Julie Bettie, BB: Aries and Seidier

Race and Class, like Gender, are both omnipresent identities. In school, teachers respond to them. Perry talks about the culture of whiteness and how it is relayed in Valley Grove High School and Clavey High School.

In my Self and Society class, we read Lareau's book, Unequal Childhoods, which discusses two different types of child-rearing, linked to class and race. Middle-class (typically white) families used concerted cultivation to raise their kids. This type of child rearing allowed the kids a say in family affairs. Institutions (like school) tend to favor this type. These kids have a sense of entitlement and know how to manipulate these institutions, but are less independent. Lower-class families employ methods that teach kids how to be more independent and respectful of authority.