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Home Advantage

Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education

Annette Lareau author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield

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Home Advantage cover

This insightful examination reveals how family background influences educational outcomes, emphasizing the importance of addressing systemic inequalities. Home Advantage offers a compelling perspective on education.

In Home Advantage, the author explores the intricate relationship between family background and educational success. Through a detailed ethnographic study, the book illustrates how parental involvement, socioeconomic status, and cultural capital significantly impact children's academic achievements. By weaving together personal stories and empirical data, the author sheds light on the systemic inequalities that persist within the education system, making a compelling case for the need to address these disparities.

The narrative delves into the lives of various families, showcasing the diverse experiences that shape children's educational journeys. In Home Advantage, readers are introduced to the challenges faced by families from different socioeconomic backgrounds, highlighting how these challenges influence their children's access to resources and opportunities. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding these dynamics to foster a more equitable educational environment.

Ultimately, Home Advantage serves as both a critical analysis and a call to action for educators, policymakers, and families. It encourages a deeper examination of the structures that perpetuate inequality in education and advocates for strategies that can bridge the gap between different social classes. By addressing these pressing issues, the book aims to inspire meaningful change in the educational landscape of the new millennium.

Home Advantage is already a classic in the sociology of education. It is theoretically rich and its findings are profound. It is also a model of excellence for qualitative research methods. -- Adam Gamoran, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Home Advantage is a marvelous tool for teaching about both the dynamics of school-family linkages and the realities of the process of social research. The book invariably triggers spirited discussions among students, and has a lasting influence on how they think about the sociology of education and about research. -- Aaron M. Pallas, professor of sociology and education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Home Advantage is a superb empirical study of family-school relations. The nuanced analysis, especially of the dynamics of social class, has given this work the well-earned status of a classic whose insights are of lasting value. -- Barrie Thorne, author of Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School
An important and timely book about the ways parents are able (and unable) to shape their children’s educational experiences. . . . Should be read by all current and future educators . . . required reading for students of qualitative research. * American Journal of Sociology *
Home Advantage is the most compelling empirical illustration I have found of the concept of cultural capital. It is a rich book to teach, and in the stratification course in which I used it, the students considered it the best of the books they were assigned. -- Doug Porpora, Department of Psychology and Sociology, Drexel University

  • Winner of Critics Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association.
  • Winner of American Sociological Association, Willard Wallard Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the Sociology of Education Section.

ISBN: 9780742501454

Dimensions: 232mm x 155mm x 17mm

Weight: 415g

288 pages