Enriching intimacy: the role of the emotional in the ‘resourcing’ of middle‐class children

Abstract

This paper analyses qualitative interviews conducted with Norwegian middle‐class parents. It explores how a particular type of intimacy – an enriching intimacy – is produced as part of everyday parent–child interactions and considers the notion of the social self that spurs middle‐class parents to seek this very type of intimacy with their child. By so doing it adds to the growing field of research on middle‐class parents’ child‐rearing strategies and the role these strategies play in the ‘resourcing’ of middle‐class children. The relevance of the dimension of intimacy for studies on the parental effect on children’s school achievement is discussed.

Keywords:

• middle‐class parenting
• intimacy
• concerted cultivation

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on two research projects financed by the Norwegian Research Council. Thanks to Ingrid Smette and Selma T. Lyng for valuable comments on an earlier draft of the paper. Thanks also to the two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions on how to improve the paper.

Notes

1. Details on the sample and methods are described elsewhere (Stefansen and Farstad 2010; Stefansen and Skogen 2010).

2. Nineteen families were re‐interviewed in 2007, when the child was around two years old, and 11 families a year or so later, in 2008.

3. For further information on the sample and methods, see Aarseth (2007).