Social Class, Social Change, and Gender

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail J. Stewart ◽  
Joan M. Ostrove
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Women's Roles ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Cohort Differences ◽  
Women’S Roles ◽  
Class Background

This article explores the implications of social class background in the lives of women who attended Radcliffe College in the late 1940s and in the early 1960s. Viewing social classes as “cultures” with implications for how individuals understand their worlds, we examined social class background and cohort differences in women's experiences at Radcliffe, their adult life patterns, their constructions of women's roles, and the influence of the women's movement in their lives. Results indicated that women from working-class backgrounds in both cohorts felt alienated at Radcliffe. Cohort differences, across social class, reflected broad social changes in women's roles in terms of the rates of divorce, childbearing, level of education, and career activity. There were few social class-specific social changes, but there were a number of social class differences among the women in the Class of 1964. These differences suggested that women from working-class backgrounds viewed women's marital role with some suspicion, whereas women from middle- and upper-class backgrounds had a more positive view. Perhaps for this reason, working-class women reported that the women's movement confirmed and supported their skeptical view of middle-class gender norms.

Social class, intensive parenting norms and parental values for children

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212110485
Author(s):  
Trevor Tsz-lok Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Academic Excellence ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Parental Values ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Value Choices ◽  
Intensive Parenting

As the global trend towards both middle- and working-class families raising their children intensively increases, social class differences in parenting beliefs and choices for their children have become more subtle. In light of the proliferation of intensive parenting norms, however, few studies have explored particular mechanisms underlying the subtle class differences linked to parental values. Drawing on in-depth interviews of 51 Hong Kong Chinese parents, this study investigated how parents contended with competing values in socialization, which in turn shaped their parenting choices. Three common values emerged from the interviews – academic excellence, hard work and happiness – showing that the middle and working classes managed their values for children in two different ways, termed here as ‘values coupling’ and ‘values juggling’, respectively. Middle-class parents were able to make their value choices cohesive through a ‘twist’ to reconcile between competing values. However, working-class parents were inclined to ‘drift’ their value choices in the face of unreconciled value tensions as well as structural constraints. Subtle differences in parental values were found to be tied to class position, and contributed to maintaining class inequality and social reproduction.

scholarly journals Time and money explain social class differences in students’ social integration at university.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Working Class Students ◽  
Exclusion Effect

Working-class students tend to be less socially integrated at university than middle-class students (Rubin, 2012a). The present research investigated two potential reasons for this working-class social exclusion effect. First, working-class students may have fewer finances available to participate in social activities. Second, working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students and, consequently, they are likely to have more work and/or childcare commitments. These additional commitments may prevent them from attending campus which, in turn, reduces their opportunity for social integration. These predictions were confirmed among undergraduate students at an Australian university (N = 433) and a USA university (N = 416). Strategies for increasing working-class students’ social integration at university are discussed.

Life stories: biography and creativity

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Paul Thompson ◽  
Ken Plummer ◽  
Neli Demireva
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
University Expansion ◽  
Second World

This chapter traces the engine of the pioneers' success and discusses their earlier lives, hinting or reflecting on how these experiences may have shaped their research. It begins by analyzing how the pioneers' were influenced by the communities where they grew up. Looking at the pioneers' families as a whole, even though this generation for which unprecedented university expansion brought rare opportunities for upward mobility, the chapter examines the pioneers' working-class families and old Oxbridge intellectual aristocracy. It notes that some of the key factors which brought them opportunities were due to national social changes and international events. The chapter also looks at how the older generation generally benefitted from Second World War experiences that took them out of their social-class cocoon. The chapter then discusses the pioneers who chose to explore other cultures rather than to research their own communities. It emphasizes social class injustice, racism, and gender injustice.

Gender/Social Class, Family Environments and Adolescents' Aspirations

1987 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Marjoribanks
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Educational Aspirations ◽  
Occupational Aspirations ◽  
Female Adolescents ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Class Groups ◽  
Linear Interaction ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Curvilinear Relationships

This study examined relationships between family environments and the aspirations of 516 South Australian adolescents from six gender/social-class groups. Family environments were assessed initially when the adolescents were 11 years old when measures were obtained of parents' aspirations for their children and of their instrumental and affective orientations to learning. When the adolescents were 16 years old, their perceptions of their parents' support for learning and of their own aspirations were assessed. Regression surfaces were constructed from models that included terms to account for possible linear, interaction and curvilinear relationships. The findings suggested the propositions that parents' aspirations have a direct impact (a) on female adolescents' educational aspirations and (b) on the educational and occupational aspirations of male working-class adolescents, after considering the effect on aspirations of the adolescents' perceptions of parents' support. The results also indicated gender/social-class differences in the relationships between family environments and adolescents' aspirations.

scholarly journals Age differences explain social class differences in students’ friendship at university: Implications for transition and retention.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Working Class Students ◽  
Social Class Difference

The present research tested the hypotheses that (a) working-class students have fewer friends at university than middle-class students, and (b) this social class difference occurs because working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students. A sample of 376 first-year undergraduate students from an Australian university completed an online survey that contained measures of social class and age as well as quality and quantity of actual and desired friendship at university. Consistent with predictions, age differences significantly mediated social class differences in friendship. The Discussion focuses on potential policy implications for improving working-class students’ friendships at university in order to improve their transition and retention.

Occurrence of Sex and Social Class Differences in Premorbid Competence, Symptom and Outcome Measures in Acute Schizophrenics

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Raskin ◽  
Risa Golob
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Recreational Activities ◽  
Female Patients ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Social Achievement ◽  
Negative Findings

An investigation was made of the occurrence of sex and social class differences in 15 premorbid competence, 14 symptom and two outcome measures. The sample comprised 138 newly admitted schizophrenics from nine hospitals. Middle-class patients evinced greater pre-adolescent psychic disturbance, greater premorbid interest and involvement in interpersonal, social and recreational activities, and were more emotionally unrestrained on admission than working-class patients. Female patients were older, more often married, higher on premorbid social achievement, and lower on symptoms characterizing grandiosity. The implications of these essentially negative findings for the process-reactive distinction in schizophrenia, and Zigler and Phillips' reported relationship between premorbid competence and symptoms, are discussed.

We Need More Documentary, and We Need More than Documentary: Interview with Art Historian Steve Edwards

2017 ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Andreia Alves de Oliveira ◽  
Steve Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Present Status ◽  
Political Education ◽  
Visual Theory ◽  
Academic Conference ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
History And Theory

Steve Edwards teaches history and theory of photography and is a fiery, self-described “radical from a working-class background”, “post-Trotskyist” and “socialist feminist”, who reads “Marx and more Marx”. We met in 2016 in Lisbon at an academic conference on Photography and the Left, where he was one of the keynote speakers. Edwards’ paper tracked the changes in relation to the Left and the documentary movement in Britain from the 1970s to the present day, his argument consisting in that documentary and social class are closely entwined. This interview, done at Birkbeck, University of London, which he joined as a Professor at the beginning of this academic year, revisits the main themes of what was, in many ways, an enlightening and inspiring talk. Using the two terms – Photography and the Left – to frame and anchor the discussion, our exchange covers Edwards’ political education, the 1970s emergence of a key period in visual theory and subsequent mutations in political visual practice, up to its present status in a neoliberal society and the forms and intellectual basis of contemporary resistance to it. Although the exchange is centred on the British context, it is done so, however, with total awareness of it being an instance among others of documentary photography’s many global manifestations. It is with these manifestations that this interview aims to enter into dialogue, through its publication in a magazine with a global audience such as Membrana’s.

Poverty, social class and social immobility

2018 ◽  
pp. 87-112
Author(s):  
Tracy Shildrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Life Chances

This chapter considers the issue of poverty and social class. Since the 1970s, social class has become a complex, confused, and contested concept, with much debate over its meaning as well as its continued relevance. In both political and popular arenas, the concept has become largely redundant amid social changes that have, on the surface at least, appeared to make the concept of class less vital. This idea has been supported by a neoliberal agenda that prioritises the promotion of free choice along with the individualisation of life chances, experiences, and responsibilities. The increasing propensity towards the stigmatisation and demonisation of the working class, particularly through poverty propaganda, leads to a situation whereby even those experiencing deep poverty prefer to disassociate and distance themselves from the condition.

“You’re Supposed to Help Me”: The Perils of Mass Counseling Norms for Working-Class Black Students

2016 ◽  
pp. 004208591665217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Jones Gast
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Black Students ◽  
College Counseling ◽  
Urban Settings ◽  
Class Background ◽  
The Impact

How do educators reconcile the growing college-for-all norm—the notion that all students should pursue college—with the diverse needs of students in urban settings? What is the impact on Black students across social-class background? Using interviews and fieldwork with teachers, counselors, and diverse Black students in a large Californian high school, I examine college-counseling norms under a social capital framework. With high caseloads, I find that educators support mass outreach and vague encouragements for 4-year colleges. Ultimately, my findings problematize one-size-fits-all counseling norms and highlight the need for more targeted counseling for urban and working-class Black students.

Social Class Differences in Language Predictability: Written

1973 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent E. Poole
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Experimental Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Class Origin ◽  
First Year University

Two cloze-tests were constructed from written essays encoded by 80 first-year university students of middle-class and working-class origin. In a second experimental situation, 46 tertiary subjects were asked to ‘fill in’ the missing cloze deletions of these written passages. Within the terms of the Bernstein elaborated-restricted code framework it was posited that, since working class language is thought to be characterized by greater lexical and structural predictability, these passages would facilitate the decoding task. The analysis was based firstly on a ‘verbatim’ cloze completion criterion and secondly utilized an information theory approach. Results on the first criterion indicated significant social class differences (higher predictability of working-class messages on lexical and total cloze deletions); whereas those on the second criterion were nonsignificant. Possible implications of the study for teaching were explored.

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