Compared peer social interaction of 159 low socioeconomic status (SES), Head Start preschoolers and 91 middle SES private preschoolers. Although low SES children had more initiations and responses than did middle SES children, they also had more difficulty in responding appropriately and had more negative than positive responses. (DE)

Discusses the passage in the United Kingdom of the Public Libraries Act of 1850 and its reflections of social and political attitudes prevalent at the time, particularly laissez-faire and utilitarianism. Individualism, national education, and middle class concern for the poor are discussed. (60 references) (LRW)

Parent training programs have been effective interventions for middle-income families with children who have developmental, learning, and behavioral problems. Results have been mixed with low-income families, however. Tested practical parenting program with both middle- and low-income parents (n=34). Results indicated significant improvements for…

Investigated personal storytelling among young working-class and middle-class children, observing them at home at age 2; age 6 and 3; and under-one year. Analysis of generic properties, narrative content, and emotion talk revealed a complex configuration of similarities and differences. Differentiation between working-class and middle-class…

Examines detailed school spending and achievement data for over 2,800 Texas elementary schools for 1992-93. A school's student poverty rate is the most important factor influencing student performance. Results emphasize the importance of spending for exemplary teaching, basic supplies, and maintenance. Certain expenditures correlate with lower…

Data from a 1994 longitudinal survey showed that parents' availability for school participation varied widely, depending on income and vacation benefits. At Princeton University, Alan Kruger and Diane Whitman concluded that smaller classes have greater effects on minority students' progress and college entrance-exam enrollment than on whites. (MLH)

Because of the scarcity of knowledge about middle-class African American adolescents, the present study explored psychological and parental factors in relation to academic performance. The participants were 336 middle-class African American students and their biological mothers. The findings suggest that for African American middle-class…

In this article, the author argues that women reformers are an under-researched influence on the school curriculum of this time period, their efforts having been eclipsed by myriad historical studies of the male professional leader. She presents an insightful analysis that interrogates the work of the woman's movement and asks how women sought to…

We examined family and religiousspiritual antecedents and correlates of current and intended civic involvement in 76 middle class African American late adolescents (M = 18.43 years) who had been followed longitudinally for 3 years. Adolescents' spirituality/religiosity and mothers' current involvement influenced the overall ratings and more…

This article raises questions about current educational reform efforts now underway in a number of nations. Research from a number of countries is used to document some of the hidden differential effects of two connected strategies - neo-liberal inspired market proposals and neo-liberal, neo-conservative, and middle class managerial inspired…

This paper focuses upon relationships barely explored in the sociology of education either in the UK or elsewhere that lie between the practices and processes of formal education and the aetiology (the 'causations') and development of eating disorders, specifically, anorexia nervosa (AN) in young women and girls. In so doing, it also touches on…

This study investigates four- to six-year-old children's conceptions of learning, by applying the lexicometric method to their oral responses to questions about their learning of drawing, in an individual interview at school. Interviews were videotaped and fully transcribed. Subjects were 26 children from a middle-class background attending…

This article identifies some discursive processes by which White, middle-class, native-English-speaking, U.S.-born college students draw on a monolingualist ideology and position themselves and others within a language-race-nationality matrix. These processes construct the speakers' Whiteness and nativeness in English as unmarked and normal; mark…

This paper has arisen from a concern that much recent policy-related research on markets displays misogynistic tendencies. In both the media and academic accounts it would appear as though the blame for social and educational inequalities can now be laid at the door of women--particularly middle-class mothers. Through examining competing…

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los…