Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

In her time working with the families in the study, Lareau notices that there are sizeable differences in the way time and scheduling are allocated in each class. Middle-class families seem regularly stressed, lead hectic lives, and juggle many children’s activities around which the rest of their lives are planned. These children spend less time with other children and less time enjoying free leisure than their working-class counterparts, whose parents spend their days managing finances, chores, and errands while their children lead more relaxed and open lives. Working-class children also spend more time with other children and family.

Lareau chooses to focus on the Tallinger family as a subject for her discussion on the organization of family life within concerted cultivation families. Garrett is a white, middle-class fourth grader with two younger siblings. His parents are married and work long hours, and all three boys have various extracurricular activities, particularly sports. Lareau introduces the family with a lucid scene of Don Tallinger, the father, discovering that his evening is free from these commitments for once. He is elated and relieved, which Lareau calls “testimony to his family’s hectic pace” (38). Children in families like Garrett’s tend to develop “white-collar work skills” (39), such as talking to strangers and managing a schedule but often at the cost of close family ties.