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Chauncey Stephens
December 7, 2012
Honors 2000 Section 1
Final Draft, Essay 3
Meritocracy versus Social Stratification and Institutions
Working from rags to riches in pursuit of happiness and the American Dream is a
narrative that lies at the heart of the United States. American culture places a strong emphasis on
individual choices, hard work, and self-determination as the only necessities for success.
Exclusive focus on the individual, however, draws attention away from the roles social class and
institutions play in determining what feats individuals are capable of achieving. Annette
Lareaus qualitative research published in Unequal Childhoods illustrates how institutions, such
as families and schools, heavily influence childrens futures. Lareaus research supports the idea
that an individuals opportunities are not solely dependent on meritocracy, but instead, are
strongly influenced by social class and whether institutions value concerted cultivation or natural
growth.
The American perception of how goods and opportunities are distributed fails to
acknowledge the impact of social stratification and institutions. Americans strongly believe that
those who work diligently will reap the benefits of their efforts, and the harder one works, the
more successful they will become. We are motivated by the stories of individuals who start with
nothing and become members of the wealthiest quartile of Americans, but the reality is that their
successes are not common occurrences. Intergenerational income mobility is very limited. In
fact, the percentage of sons with a family background in the bottom quartile who end up in the
bottom quartile as adults between 30 and 59 years old ranged from 50 to 40 percent across four

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decades (Harding 505-515). Moreover, as Lareaus research indicates, an individuals social
background and the values taught by institutions often limit the opportunities that they may
choose to pursue in the future. This is not to say that it is impossible for an individual to
significantly change their position in life, but it is uncommon (Lareau 343). While we would
like to believe our circumstances are arbitrary and everyone has equal opportunities to achieve
limitless success in America, the reality is that our life positions dictate what we are capable of
accomplishing. In Unequal Childhoods, Annette Lareau identifies two different methods of
child-rearing and the specific social classes they are practiced in, ultimately shaping an
individuals prospective futures.
The middle class practices concerted cultivation, which generally prepares children to
succeed in post-secondary education and corporate institutions. Parents are actively involved in
instilling skills, talents, and opinions in their children that will equip them to develop into highachieving, young adults, who attend college, and then become successful in the professional
realm. They strive to ensure that their children will remain members of the middle class by
approaching the organization of daily life, language use, and interventions with institutions in
specific ways.
The organization of daily life in middle class families is very structured and extremely
busy. Middle class families are slaves to their schedules; their daily lives are mapped out
strategically to incorporate multiple extracurricular activities. For instance, the Tallinger family
in Lareaus study was constantly going from one practice to the next, particularly Garretts
practices. This was a family affair:
In the Tallinger family, the older childrens schedules set the pace of life for all family
membersThey [the parents] rush home, rifle through the mail, prepare snacks, change

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out of their work clothes, make sure the children are appropriately dressed and have the
proper equipment for the upcoming activity, find their car keys, put the dog outside, load
the children and equipment into the car, lock the door, and drive off. The pattern repeats
itself with slight variations day after day (Lareau 42).
Mr. and Mrs. Tallinger, Garrett, Spencer, and Sams lives were entirely dictated by their extracurricular commitments. As a result, everyone suffered from exhaustion and had very limited
free time to relax. The Tallingers, like many other middle class families, practiced concerted
cultivation through ample structured activities to enhance their childrens talents and abilities.
Ultimately, this increases the childrens chances of winning honors and awards, receiving
scholarships (both academic and athletic), and being accepted by prestigious colleges.
Language is used in middle class families to negotiate and reason, improving the
childrens ability to interact with adults: Rather than using authority based on position (e.g., that
of being a parent) middle class parents prefer negotiating interactions with their children in a
more personalistic fashion (Lareau 116). This type of open interaction between adults and
children avoids the use of directives and yelling, thus promoting critical thinking, developing the
ability to articulate ideas, and broadening the childrens vocabulary and awareness. The ability
to effectively develop and express informed opinions in discussion with adults is a skill that also
benefits children, especially during interviews for scholarships, college admissions, and
professional positions.
The boundaries between home and institutions are fluid for most middle class parents.
They do not hesitate to take assertive actions that ensure their children are receiving treatment
that meets their individual needs and yields the most personal advantages. Ms. Marshall, one of
the mothers observed in Lareaus study, acted like a guardian angel, hovering over her children,

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closely monitoring their everyday lives, ever ready to swoop down to intervene in institutional
settings such as classrooms, doctors offices, or day camps (Lareau 165). This type of
intervention can be beneficial because it guarantees that the children will not fall through the
cracks and will gain the most from their activities. Additionally, parental involvement can be
very advantageous when young adults are applying for college. In some extreme cases, though,
too much intervention is actually harmful to the child, such as with Melanie Handlon and her
mother. Ms. Handlon focuses much of her effort on putting things off, making excuses for her
daughter, and attempting to place the blame for Melanies poor performance in school on faculty
members (Lareau 195). Consequently, Melanies learning disabilities are not identified nor
treated appropriately. It is important to realize that this is not common, and generally, middle
class parental intervention secures their childrens opportunities. Furthermore, concerted
cultivation in middle class families better prepares children to succeed in higher education and
professional settings, putting them at an advantage over working class and underprivileged
children.
Working class and poor families generally practice natural growth, promoting social
skills that are beneficial but not valued by colleges or professional institutions as much as the
skills promoted through concerted cultivation. This puts children from working class and poor
backgrounds at a disadvantage and limits their choices in the future. Lack of capital, time,
resources, and cultural repertoires restricts these children to fewer possibilities because they are
not prepared as well as middle class children to succeed in higher education and the corporate
world. There are some exceptions in which children from poor and working class families are
able to overcome their circumstances and accomplish feats that are not typically perceivable for

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individuals in their circumstances. However, as a general rule, these childrens opportunities are
sparse, and they experience a strong sense of constraint.
Daily life for working class and poor families is much more relaxed, allotting free time
for children to hang out with peers and family members. Working class and poor parents
concentrate most of their efforts on making sure they can provide the basic necessities, such as
food and clothing, for their children. Therefore, they cannot afford, so to speak, to focus on their
childrens social lives. Practicing the accomplishment of natural growth by providing close
supervision in custodial matters and granting children autonomy in leisure matters results in
children finding much pleasure in playtime (Lareau 83). The childrens autonomy in regards to
leisure activities separates the adults world from the youths world. Tyrec Taylor, a nine-yearold boy from a working class family, exemplifies what kind of activities working class and poor
children partake in and how the skills developed by these activities are valued in institutional
settings. Boys such as Tyrec gain skills on how to manage time, how to cooperate in an informal
group, how to strategize, how to negotiate over conflict during play, and sometimes how to
physically defend themselves (Lareau 67). These are important social competencies, but they are
not equally valued in institutional worlds with which all children must come in contact (e.g.,
schools, health-care facilities, stores, workplaces) (Lareau 67). Moreover, working class and
poor children do not gain experiences that prompt them to interact with institutional settings
easily and effectively.
Directives and intermittent conversations are the main source of language used in
working class and poor families. The parents are respected as the authority figures, and their
children adhere to their directions, often, without much rebuttal. For example, Harold
McAllister, a ten-year-old target child in Lareaus study, obeys without dissent when directed

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loudly to eat his spinach (Lareau 147). Aside from brief and casual conversations about family,
friends, television, or daily events, the amount of talking in working class and poor homes is
limited and consists of simple, abridged language. Lareau observed, Language serves as a
practical conduit of daily life, not as a tool for cultivating reasoning skills or a resource to plumb
for ways to express feelings or ideas (146). Limited and simplistic communication in the
household also puts children in working class and poor families at a disadvantage compared to
middle class children. They do not become accustomed to thinking critically, expanding their
vocabulary, or articulating their thoughts comfortably with adults. Furthermore, children often
struggle in school and face adversity when entering the real world and interacting with others in
institutional settings, such as the workplace.
Dealing with institutions is a difficult and frustrating task for many working class and
poor families. Parents typically feel inferior to educators and doctors, for example. Thus, their
interactions with institutions, especially schools, result in a sense of powerlessness. Ms. Driver,
the mother of target child Wendy Driver, was unable to completely understand the limitations of
her daughters learning disabilities, so she depended heavily on directives from educators to help
Wendy improve (Lareau 210). Conflict also arises as cultural practices in the home conflict with
childrearing practices in school. For instance, many parents encourage their children to
physically retaliate, while the teacher is not looking, against peers that harass them; this is in
direct violation with the rules of the schools and leads to disciplinary problems (Lareau 199).
Limited and conflicting parental intervention with institutions hinders working class and poor
childrens ability to flourish in these settings, yet again increasing the gap between middle class
and working class/poor children.

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As supported in Annette Lareaus Unequal Childhoods, Our cultures nearly exclusive
focus on individual choices renders indivisible the key role of institutions. In actuality,
differences in childbearing practices, concerted cultivation versus natural growth, among social
classes create a system corrupt by unequal opportunities.

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Works Cited
Harding, David, Christopher Jencks, Leonard M. Lopoo, and Susan E. Mayer. 2008. Family
Background and Incomes in Adulthood. Pp. 505-515 in Social Stratification: Class, Race
and Gender in Sociological Perspective, edited by David B. Grusky. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Second ed. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2011. Print.