Families Like Us: Gentrifying Parents’ Values, Motivations, and Actions in a Neighborhood School

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Families First: Involvement, Identity, and Influence

Abstract

Across the United States, White middle-class families are increasingly choosing urban schools. However, these parents are not neutral participants in the choice process; their resources and political power often exceed that of their neighbors. In this project, I draw on an under-utilized data set: the archives of a local parents’ association listserv. I explore the values, motivations, and actions of middle- and upper-middle-class parents regarding their local school in a gentrifying neighborhood. I find that questions of difference in race, class, or educational values are silenced except in moments of crisis. The silences and points of discussion reveal the competing values underlying advantaged parents’ actions, as well as the political power and social privilege they enact in these contexts.

Author

• Alexandra Freidus, New York University