Diverging Development: The Not-So-

Invisible Hand of Social Class in the

United States
by
Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr.

• Opening Clip from People Like Us

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5MtV
M_zFs
 U. S. Class System
• Upper Class
• Middle Class
• Lower Class
• Whether we realize it or
not, most societies are
divided up (stratified)
into various groups
(social classes)
according to their
access to specific forms
of wealth (finance) and
influence (power).
 Inequality
• The idea that every America is middle class is
a false notion.
• Americans are uncomfortable with class
discussions.
• The decline in discussions about class and
class stratification have coincided with the rise
of huge economic inequality in America.
 Race, Class, and Gender
• Rather than analyzing gradients of social class
Americans are usually classified by rich and
poor, marked by education and earnings—
above the poverty line.
• Thus, if you are working and comfortable you
have made it.
• Same as some one making 100 times your
income. “We’ve all made it!”
 Understanding the Rules of Class
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTlv
OQ&feature=related
 Defining Social Class
• Social class is not a tightly bounded and largely
closed hierarchical set of social strata that
determines the life chances of its members (it
is not a caste system).
• Social class is the structure of economic and
social opportunities affecting individuals’
behaviors and beliefs, networks, and
associations, and ultimately knowledge about
and access to social institutions.
 Class Matters view 2, Tammy:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8VXrHeL
qBA&feature=related
Developmental Theory of Social Class
• Recognize that the social class that one is born
into will help determine the life choices and
chances available to an individual and his or
her children.
• Human development involves an ongoing
interaction between individual-level biological
potential and social processes shaped by
multiple and changing social environments.
 Human Development
• Charles Horton Cooley • There is an ongoing
developed the idea of interaction between
the “looking-glass self.” individual-level
biological potential and
• George Herbert Mead social processes shaped
built on the work of by children’s multiple
Cooley and developed and changing social
the idea of role-taking, environments.
first in the play-stage
and then in the game-
stage.
 Social Class impacts socialization
• Learning environments such as families,
schools, and neighborhoods set the stage for a
socially orchestrated life course.
• The social arrangements that develop and
refine young people are carefully regulated by
gatekeepers.
• Meritocratic standards based on talent,
performance, and sponsorship open doors.
 What about beating the odds?
• Children are resilient and vulnerable. The
resilient ones can defy the odds based on how
s/he interprets and acts on a situation.
• 42% of children born into the bottom fifth of
the income distribution will remain there as
adults.
• 7% will make it to the top-one-fifth
• 50% will end up in the middle somewhere
 Where does class difference start
• Biological development—can early
development preclude or compromise
subsequent development?
 Stimulation Counts
• Children born with developmental disabilities
and with parents who lack capacity to care for
them suffer.
• Children reared without emotional stimulation
become emotionally incapacitated.
• Does it follow that children with plenty of
emotional stimulation will see increased
benefit, Weber’s increased capacity if you
will?
 Anticipatory Socialization
• This is advanced training for social roles
outside the home, particularly the role of
student.
• Class related habits of speech, thought, and
behavior affect perceptions of the child.
• Child is tracked based on the perception of
others.
 How Institutions work
• Institutional settings find and recruit children
from families of different social classes with
varying levels of energy and enthusiasm.
• Settings regulate their clientele by the cost of
services.
• Social and Cultural Capital are acquired based
on the composition of kinship and peer
networks.
 Where you live matters
• Parents attempt to manage their children’s
opportunities by living in the best
neighborhoods.
• Most children experience a mixture of social
opportunities.
• The stratification of social space means that
wealthy children just have to be ordinary to
succeed, poorer kids have to be outstanding
 Opportunity Structure
• Cultural Capital and Going to college:
– Kids from well-off families know more about going
to college by age 12, than many working-class kids
know when they enter college.
– Well-off children begin visiting colleges during the
summer of their sophomore year so they know
and understand the differences.
– Working class kids who go to college settle for the
CC or the state school near their home.
 Prevention and Remediation
• Affluent families have more options for
success and safety:
– Preventative medicine
– Toxic free environments
– Better diets
– Safer neighborhoods
– Higher experts to help them solve problems
– Tap contacts to help wayward youth
 Social Capital
• Social Capital is the resources that can be
brought to bear by families to promote
children’s positive development as well as to
prevent or correct negative courses of action.
• children who participate in extracurricular
programs, after-school classes and activities,
summer camps, and advanced educational
courses are better placed to receive and
benefit from sponsorship.
 Social Class and Education
• By the time children reach college age the
social class differences have accumulated
enough to make the difference in who attends
college and when.
– Costs
– Preparedness
– Work versus Study
– Sponsorship and mentoring for college.
 Film Clips
• People Like Us:
1. Opening Tease: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5MtVM_zFs
2. Social Class Makes a Difference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdey7Qa52nM&feature=related
3. Class Matters, view 1, All you need is Cash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTlvOQ&feature=related
4. Class Matters view 2, Tammy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8VXrHeLqBA&feature=related
5. Genie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWzO8DtRd-s
6. Feral Children: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVd6XS-J0s