Despite ample research evidence about the benefits of out-of-school-time (OST) programs, recent studies have revealed an increasing gap in access to and engagement in OST between youth from working-class and middle-class backgrounds. There are both immediate and long-term implications of this difference in high-quality program participation, as…

Much of the literature on social class and language study in schools argues that for middle-class parents and their children, languages are chosen for their capacity to offer forms of distinction that provide an edge in the global labour market. In this paper, we draw on data collected from interviews with parents and children in middle-class…

Against an expanded sector of higher education, inadequate empirical effort has been made to examine the experiences of middle-class students who fail to get straight into university rectify their situation. Such experiences, as well as their psychic/emotional aspects, are of increasing relevance to understanding the operation of class against a…

Based on an ethnographic study, this article presents the class-based disparities of Chinese parents' usage of "WeChat," the dominating social networking mobile application in China, in their educational involvement. We find that middle-class parents are the privileged ones who have exploited the use of "WeChat" not only as a…

In response to goals of expanding access as well as public pressure to leverage substantial endowment resources toward increasing affordability, numerous elite colleges have enacted policies aimed at improving access and affordability by replacing student loans with grants in financial aid packages. No-loan policies, however, differ in the extent…

This paper reports on the patterns of participation in organised sports of youngsters coming towards the end of primary school, with a view to identifying emergent sporting habits in relation to social class gradients. The data for the study were generated via 90 semi-structured interviews with parents and children from 62 families. The data…

Travel has become ubiquitous for most social groups as holidaying abroad has become ever cheaper and ecumene. This paper considers how travel can be understood as part of family practices around children's educations and futures. Drawing on Kaufmann's concept of motility, we examine how spatial mobility might become a form of cultural capital to…

This paper explores how middle-class distinction is produced in a primary school by focusing on four different 'scenes'. Using Bourdieu's notion of distinction, this paper shows how children are educated on matters of middle-class taste. I argue that privilege is produced through food education in different formats. This taste education goes…

Berlant's notion of cruel optimism refers to investments in material structures, social norms, and ideological claims of being that work against individual and collective flourishing. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data spanning 2007-2016, this longitudinal study utilizes cruel optimism to explore material and affective investments of…

This paper draws on current international analysis of pandemic issues in education, and on recent arguments by critical economists and political scientists, to examine two scenarios for educational policy beyond the coronavirus pandemic. One looming possibility is an onrush of austerity, deep cuts to public education, financial hardship for the…

This article explores how conceptions of responsible parenting are re-negotiated in present-day Singapore. It discusses how policy changes in the pre-school area have affected parental practices and notions of morally worthy parenting. Pre-school reform promoting children's holistic development and less intensive parenting is part of a wider…

Research on homework, particularly using qualitative approaches, is neglected in sociological literature. This qualitative study uses a Bourdieusian interpretive lens to explore parental homework practices in a middle-class, urban setting in Ireland. In-depth semi-structured interviews were held with six parents and six teachers of pupils aged…

This essay discusses the role of religion as a central facet when researching the emerging social group -- the global middle class (GMC). It is argued here that religion is a particularly relevant feature for the constitution of this social group because of the GMC's transnational and cosmopolitan character. In this essay, I will draw on several…

Research in the neighborhood effects tradition has primarily concerned itself with understanding the consequences of growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods. In recent years, however, the in-migration of relatively affluent households into disinvested central city neighborhoods--commonly referred to as gentrification--has markedly risen,…

State need-based financial aid programs are a key driver of college access and completion for lower-income students and racially marginalized students in California, most of whom attend public two- and four-year colleges and universities and come from families with annual incomes of less than $40,000. As the state's largest need-based financial…