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White Working Class
book

White Working Class

by Joan C. Williams
May 2017
Beginner content levelBeginner
192 pages
3h 31m
English
Harvard Business Review Press
Content preview from White Working Class
CHAPTER 7

Why Don’t They Push Their Kids Harder to Succeed?

CHILDREN LEARN CLASS at their mothers’ knee. Child­rearing, like so many other aspects of daily life, is demarcated by class. Working-class and low-income families follow what Annette Lareau, in her important book Unequal Childhoods, called the “accomplishment of natural growth.” They view “children’s development as unfolding spontaneously, as long as they [are] provided with comfort, food, shelter” and other basics. Providing these represents a challenge and is held to be a considerable achievement.121

Clear boundaries exist between parents and children, with prompt obedience expected: crucial training for working-class jobs.122 Class migrants often note with shock the disrespectful ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781633693791