Parenting priorities and pressures: furthering understanding of ‘concerted cultivation’

Abstract

This paper re-examines the purposes of a planned and intentional parenting style – ‘concerted cultivation’ – for different middle-class groups, highlighting that social class fraction, ethnicity, and also individual family disposition, guides understandings of the purposes of enrolling children in particular enrichment activities. We examine how parents and their children engage in extra-curricular activities for instrumental reasons with a view to securing skills, qualities and distinction for the future. Additionally, however, enrichment activities are understood as offering present-day values such as enjoyment, social bonding and purposeful activity. The paper also highlights that current policy and broader commercial discourses call for the increased responsibilisation and intensification of parenting, which means that ‘good’ parents are required to ‘buy into’ extra-curricular activities for their children, with concomitant implications for those whose access to activities is limited by economic circumstance.

Keywords:

• parenting
• social class
• ethnicity
• enrichment activities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. These are institutions that operate in high street premises resembling a shop, usually offering individual computer-based programs in English and Maths to children.

2. http://www.suttontrust.com/news/news/londoners-most-likely-to-pay-for-extra-tuition-as-demand/ (accessed 5 June 2014).

3. Interviews with students attending two universities in Bristol aimed to explore how social class affects the aspirations and employment futures made possible through a university education.

4. http://www.perform.org.uk/about-us/how-your-child-will-benefit.html (accessed 5 June 2014).

5. http://www.tumbletots.com/our-programmes.php (accessed 5 June 2014).

6. www.kumon.co.uk/private-tuition/frequently-asked-questions/index.htm (accessed 5 June 2014).

7. See for example the message of the Headmaster of Stowe, an elite private school, http://www.stowe.co.uk/about-stowe/headmasters-welcome (accessed 7 June 2014).

8. This project seeks to understand what patterns of friendships reveal about the nature and extent of ethnic and social divisions in contemporary multicultural society. The team is considering to what extent and how children's and adults' friendships cross ethnic and social class difference. The project involves interviews with eight/nine-year-old children, their parents and teachers in three London primary schools. Other data sources include the children's ‘social maps’ of their friendships, and researcher observations on classroom/playground interaction.