The three sociological studies included in this report provide a description and analysis of family and kinship, and neighborhood and community variables that affect lower class children's readiness and competence to enter into formal education. Study topics are: (1) Kinship and Socioeconomic Status, which examines home to school transition and the clash of public and private cultures; (2) An Ethnography of a White Workingclass Community, a description of life in a white, lower class, semi-rural community; and (3) Problems of Competence Development Among Ghetto Residents of a Middle-sized City which defines "competence" as a social dimension and therefore considers that input from family, neighborhood, and community severely limits the part that formal schooling can play in the development of competence. Appendixes contain data collection forms and tables used in the kinship study. (MS)