Middle Classness as a Life Project: Parenting the Middle-Class Child

Conference: The European Conference on Education (ECE2021)
Title: Middle Classness as a Life Project: Parenting the Middle-Class Child
Stream: Learning Experiences, Student Learning & Learner Diversity
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Smriti Singh, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, India

Abstract:

Education has been a quintessential site for inter-generational reproduction of class advantage among middle classes, across contexts. Education is critical to class reproduction for a class, that has "shared experiences as owner of individual capital assets whether material (consumer goods, homes, small businesses) or cultural (education, social connections, training et cetera)" (Liechty, 2003; p. 254). However, it is the ironical non-convertibility of these material and non-material bases upon which middle-classness is contingent that makes middle-class strategies for class reproduction alluring. In terms of studying middle-class strategies for class reproduction, the usual focus of enquiry and research has been on school choices and enrichment activities that the middle-class parents choose or acquire for their children as part of "concerted cultivation" (Lareau, 2011: p. 48). This paper seeks however moves beyond mere school choices to systematically capture larger parenting practices tied to the discourse of childhood among middle-class parents. These practices are reflective of parental strategies for class socialisation and reproduction of class. The paper is based on insights from doctoral work submitted in 2017 and draws upon in-depth interviews and narratives of middle-class parents in the new urban context of Gurugram. The paper highlights the changing parenting practices among the middle class towards systematically investing in the children as longitudinal “projects” of class reproduction and class consolidation. The idea that children or individuals may come to be looked upon as projects in some ways is contended as being reflective of increasing individualisation in post-traditional times (Beck-Gernsheim, 2002).

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