Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

In an update 10 years later (2003), Lareau revisits the children from the study to “find out whether the differences in child rearing […] had or had not continued over time” (261). The subjects of the study are now between 18-21 years old, and Lareau conducts an interview with each of them as well as key family members. Two of the families renting have become homeowners, and all of the children have managed to “avoid major life difficulties” (261). Lareau finds that class played an important role in shaping these children over the past decade, citing that parental resources affected many children’s ability to be accepted into college. Lareau also asks the families to read Unequal Childhoods and gathers their reactions to how they were represented.

In 2003, the American economy is unstable and going to college is seen as potentially the only way to succeed in a country with fewer and fewer high-paying jobs. This makes competition for these jobs extreme. Lareau finds patterns of parenting style continued for the adolescence of the children in the study. Because of middle-class parents’ continued efforts toward concerted cultivation as well as their knowledge regarding