Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage: parental investment in their children’s schooling in Dehradun, India
Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage: parental investment in their children’s schooling in Dehradun, India
The heterogeneity of the contemporary Indian middle-class has been discussed widely. However, the effect of its internal differences on the distribution of educational resources needs to be examined systematically. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with parents in 53 middle-class families in Dehradun, India, this paper explores three aspects of the home-school relationship: how socioeconomic transformations shape parents’ aspirations for their children’s future, educational decisions parents make to realise those aspirations, and mothers’ engagement in their children’s everyday schooling. The tripartite analysis reveals that despite sharing common educational goals and strategies with the population in general, middle-class families in India use their class privilege to gain valuable educational resources. The paper argues that the discrepancy in the mobilisation of accumulated resources in the heterogeneous middle-class results in disparate educational advantages across families. It critiques the binary construction of social classes when explaining the processes of social reproduction in contemporary Indian society.
capital, educational advantage, Heterogeneous middle-class, parental aspirations, parental engagement, school-choice
48-63
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a
9 September 2019
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a
Gupta, Achala
(2019)
Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage: parental investment in their children’s schooling in Dehradun, India.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41 (1), .
(doi:10.1080/01425692.2019.1660142).
Abstract
The heterogeneity of the contemporary Indian middle-class has been discussed widely. However, the effect of its internal differences on the distribution of educational resources needs to be examined systematically. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with parents in 53 middle-class families in Dehradun, India, this paper explores three aspects of the home-school relationship: how socioeconomic transformations shape parents’ aspirations for their children’s future, educational decisions parents make to realise those aspirations, and mothers’ engagement in their children’s everyday schooling. The tripartite analysis reveals that despite sharing common educational goals and strategies with the population in general, middle-class families in India use their class privilege to gain valuable educational resources. The paper argues that the discrepancy in the mobilisation of accumulated resources in the heterogeneous middle-class results in disparate educational advantages across families. It critiques the binary construction of social classes when explaining the processes of social reproduction in contemporary Indian society.
Text
AG BJSE Accepted Manuscript
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 22 August 2019
Published date: 9 September 2019
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
capital, educational advantage, Heterogeneous middle-class, parental aspirations, parental engagement, school-choice
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Local EPrints ID: 451102
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451102
ISSN: 0142-5692
PURE UUID: 5d145d0d-f037-401c-ba8c-9c4e80b091ab
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Date deposited: 07 Sep 2021 16:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:41
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