Parental practices and educational achievement: Social class, race, and habitus

A large, nationally representative database of American elementary school students was used to quantitatively assess the complex ways in which race intersects with social class, affecting parenting strategies that in turn produce various educational outcomes among children. The determinants and consequences of parental practices associated with middle-class families - what Lareau terms 'concerted cultivation' - among White and African American students were examined. The findings reveal that cultural differences in child-rearing occur along class, race, and gender boundaries.