In this paper, we explore the methodological implications of conducting qualitative interviews when researchers and participants come from different social classes. Singling out class on its own terms, rather than considering it as an auxiliary structural factor, we examine the unique challenges that arise during cross-class interviews. Such…

Examines the struggle between dominant and minority groups in terms of the use of language. Traces the development of literacy as a means of social control in the United States and England. Argues that linking literacy with standard language creates an effective form of ideological hegemony. (FMW)

Social class influences parent involvement in schooling. This book uses the case study method to compare family-school relationships in a working-class elementary school with those in an upper middle-class school, focusing on one first grade class in each school, and within the two schools, on 12 families, over the course of their children's first…

Reports on interplay between social and developmental processes in children's numerical understandings in working- and middle-class home settings. Methods included interviews with 78 children aged 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 years to assess their numerical understandings, interviews with the mothers about their children's everyday number activities, and…

Two experiments were conducted to determine how initial task experiences of success and failure combine with observation of task outcomes in same-age, same-sex peers to affect the achievement expectations of second and third graders. The first experiment involved lower class urban Black children; the second involved middle class rural White…

Reports a British study that explores relationship between social class and personality among 11-year-olds, using the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory-Short Form. Social class was determined by the father's occupation, and alternatively, by neighborhood. No correlation was found between father's occupation and any of the four personality…

Over the past few decades, social reproduction theorists have criticized achievement ideology as a dominant and dominating myth that hides the true nature of class immobility. Social reproductionists' primary criticism of achievement ideology is that it blinds the working class, regardless of race or gender, to the possibilities of collective…

Noting that there is near universal agreement that children from families with higher socioeconomic status (SES) have access to more of the resources needed to support their positive development than do lower SES children, this monograph examines the myriad questions remaining regarding relations among SES, parenting, and child development from a…