Processual Loops and Inequality Among Families with Neurodivergent Children.

• In Event: Disability and Social Connections

Abstract

Sociologists have long noted how immaterial forms of capital and the capacity to deploy them help explain the intensity and durability of various inequalities. Research in the sociology of law has shown that disparities in institutional social capital drive unequal outcomes in civil law disputes. Scholarship on educational inequality has, instead, emphasized the importance of cultural capital during civil rights contestations. This divide is especially curious given that both fields have focused on parties deeply involved in adjudicative systems, even as most cases conclude long before the courthouse steps or arbitration table. Using surveys and interviews with parents of neurodivergent children in Arizona, I examine how different types of capital shape families' ability to secure entitlements and contribute to resource inequalities. When families first attempt to access resources, differences in cultural capital help explain the variation in resource inequality. Over time, as families exhaust initial options, differences in ‘second-order’ social capital—such as knowing how to appeal or seek additional resources—become a second, discrete driver of inequality. These drivers regularly compounded families’ hardships, and families often face a processual loop of inaccessibility. These findings demonstrate the importance of looking beyond the courts for remedying injustice and that critical capital deficits highlight the need for a more dynamic and less additive understanding of capital.

Author

• Connor Strobel, University of Chicago