This article draws on data from two recently completed Economic and Social Research Council funded projects in order to examine class differences and similarities in choice of school and choice of childcare. The authors argue that there is every reason to believe that in many circumstances, within its particular mechanisms and practices, choice…

The evidence suggests that working-class students are disadvantaged in the graduate labour market. This article focuses on the extent to which students from working-class backgrounds are disadvantaged in the career decision-making process because of their lack of social capital. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 30 final-year…

Objectives: To map food access in the city of Preston in the north-west of England in order to determine access, availability and affordability of healthy food options. Design and methodology: The research design employed a number of distinct methods including: surveys of shops; interviews with local people and shopkeepers; a cost and availability…

This study used existing data derived from interviews with parents of Black students who had participated in the Suburban School Achievement Study (SSAS) to explore what parents think about schooling, the schooling experiences of their children, and how they respond to their children's experiences and level of access to opportunities. This…

Despite popular beliefs about social mobility in American society, research consistently shows that inequalities are reproduced across generations. And yet, while social reproduction hinges on the transmission of advantages from parents to children, scholars take for granted children's role in this process. We do not know whether children…

What factors lead working adults to initially enroll in graduate programs? Is the undergraduate degree no longer enough to sustain a rewarding career? Little is known as to why this segment of graduate students are building careers and pursuing advanced degrees simultaneously. Traditional institutions of higher learning have primarily focused on…

This study examines changes in leisure patterns across the transition to parenthood for dual-earner, working-class couples, as well as the relationship between leisure and marital quality. To this end, 147 heterosexual couples were interviewed across the transition to parenthood. Findings indicate that during the transition to parenthood, husbands…

This is the first major study of the professional lives and workplace experiences of Latina teachers who work in urban, multiracial schools. While there is a plethora of research on Latina immigrant women working in factories, the informal economy and low skill-jobs in the U.S., the work experiences of college-educated Latina professionals, with a…

Transition to adulthood is increasingly complex, extended, and challenging. Working-class Brown and Black young men face very difficult transitions, as they are overrepresented in the justice system, poverty, foster care, special education, and among victims of violence. What effects do these developments have on young people's places in free…

This ethnographic case study investigates the literacy practices one teacher and his students engaged in during a full year digital video composing English elective. The research site is an English course offered at a diverse, first-ring suburban high school. The course, Mass Media and Video Productions, is a full year English elective open to…

The bio medical expert literature, although contested, associates the use of dummies, soothers or pacifiers, with illness, dental malformation, impaired speech and language, and working-class mothering. This article suggests this negative perspective has filtered, via experts and the media, into public narratives of "good" mothering. Interviews…

Stratification is a central issue in family research, yet relatively few studies highlight its impact on family processes. Drawing on in-depth interviews (N = 137) and observational data (N = 12), we extend Melvin Kohn's research on childrearing values by examining how parental commitments to self-direction and conformity are enacted in daily…

Participatory research with children in the main focuses on short-term interactions. As this practice develops, questions about longer-term consequences for participants have arisen, examining the empowering claims for this research approach. This article reports the findings from continued contact with participants of an ethnographic…

This article examines the relation between social class and language attitudes through a triangulated study that analyses the attitudes of 836 secondary school students from different socioeconomic backgrounds toward the 3 official spoken languages used in postcolonial Hong Kong (HK; i.e., Cantonese, English, and Putonghua). The respondents were…

College students from the working class have interesting stories to tell about the meaning and operation of mobility through education. The author, herself a "working-class academic," explores some of the issues and dilemmas of uncovering and presenting these stories. Specifically, the author addresses: (1) the effects of interviewing those…