Unequal Childhoods Essay

Does race and social class shape child’s life more? That is what Annette Lareau sets out to answer in her book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Race is defined as a category of individuals who share common inborn biological traits, such as skin color, the color and texture of hair, and the shape of eyes or nose (Newman 2009). Social class is a division of society based on social and economic status (businessdictionary.com). Lareau states on pg. 3 of her book that, “parents’ social class impacts children’s life experiences.” (Annette Lareau). Lareau further goes on to say that there were differences in black and white children social lives, but the gaps across social classes contributed the most. What makes the social class …show more content…
6 Unequal Childhoods). Children from both races were apt at speaking with adults and expecting things from certain people in their lives. A middle class white young man named Alexander Williams spoke with his doctor and let him know what was wrong. He leaned the way to speak and inform the doctor from his mother (pg. 6 Unequal Childhoods). The parents of these children are teaching these children how to act and better themselves. Unequal Childhoods talks about job study interviews and how it only takes about a minute to make an impression (pg. 5 Unequal Childhoods). Lareau talks about how the middle class children use things like eye contact to form a connection. These things help establish a connection during meetings and can help people get what they want. Children from working class neighborhoods rarely make eye contact since it can be dangerous to look someone in the eye for too long. (pg. 5 Unequal Childhoods). Actions like these can leave working class children at a disadvantage in the job world. The race of these children does not affect how they interact with adults in their early stages of mingling, but their social class seems to have a stronger