Because Education is Everything: Aspirations and Priorities of South Asian Muslim Parents for their Children

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Familial Influences on Education

Abstract

Abstract

The last global recession combined with cuts in social services, including education, has created a new set of challenges for different families in different countries from Europe to the US. In the UK, the price of university tuition fees has tripled leading parents and young people to reconsider educational choices and future career goals. Overall inequalities appear to be rising.
This article is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 15 South Asian (from Bangladeshi, Indians and Pakistani ethnic background) Muslim families (mother, father and young person aged 14-19) living in the UK between 2009 and 2010 and presents evidence from two family case studies, which exemplify significant themes about education and aspirations in these specific family contexts.
The article draws from Lareau’s (2003) ethnographic work with American families during the early 1990s, which brought light on the importance of social class in shaping family life and the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. However, the focus of this paper is narrower and concerns with the priorities and aspirations of parents in specific religious-ethnic groups: South Asian Muslims in the UK. Findings suggest that the experience of migration combined with South Asian culture and Islam has altered the traditional class pattern that sees working class families having low educational aspirations for their children. In the study, even parent from lower socio-economic background.

Author

• Michela Franceschelli, University of London