College Funds and Transit Passes: Class Differences in Parents’ Social Network Resources and Utilization

• In Event: 471 - Regular Session. Sociology of Education: Family-School Linkages

Abstract

Our motivation is to better understand the ways in which social class differences in educationally-relevant parenting practices may result from class differences in the social contexts in which parents live. We draw on work by Bronfenbrenner and others that conceptualizes social networks as an ecological context that shapes parenting behavior. We pair social network analysis with qualitative research methods to analyze (1) the structure and composition of two types of networks among a diverse sample of parents (N=50) of eighth-graders recruited from a large northeastern city, (2) the specific network resources parents utilized within the domains of parenting and schooling, and (3) the objectives for which parents put those resources to work. Findings point to substantial disadvantages in network resources to working-class parents, but only in their discussion networks, whereas class differences in position networks are much more modest. Clear class differences exist in the use of three critical resources--information, influence, and what we call “socioeconomic substitutes”--as well as in objectives. Whereas middle-class parents primarily use their networks to promote the college-going chances of their adolescents, working-class parents’ use of networks is more varied due, in part, to their own meager financial resources. Nevertheless, our findings illuminate a means by which class inequalities in network resources may be mitgated.

Authors

• Pamela R. Bennett, City University of New York-Queens College

• Amy Lutz, Syracuse University

• Lakshmi Jayaram, University of South Florida