It’s Not Just a Game: Investigating Parental Involvements in Children’s Football Programs in Shanghai

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: Division L - Section 7: Social Context and Structural Inequalities Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

This research conducted an ethnographic study in two football-focused public primary schools in Shanghai, exploring why parents from different socio-economic classes engage in their children's football training. Parental football involvement strategies can be categorized into four types. The findings indicate that middle-class families adeptly navigate policy frameworks to identify advantageous options, and strategically position soccer training as a foundation for their children's development or long-term career aspirations, viewing coaches and schools as partners to achieve educational goals. In contrast, working-class families, constrained by cultural capital and economic disadvantages, tend to see football as a chance to integrate into the collective or to stand out and achieve success, relying the development pathway given by coaches and schools.

Authors

• Li Yutong, East China Normal University

• qian xiao peng, East China Normal University