Social class differences in family-school relationships: the importance of cultural capital

Abstract

This paper summarizesa qualitative study of family-school relationships in white working-class and middle-class communities.T he results indicate that schools have standardizedv iews of the proper role of parents in schooling. Moreover, social class provides parents with unequal resources to comply with teachers' requestsf or parental participation. Characteristicso ffamily life (e.g., social networks)a lso intervenea nd mediatef amily-school relationships. The social and cultural elements of family life that facilitate compliance with teachers' requests can be viewed as a form of cultural capital. The study suggests that the concept of cultural capital can be usedf ruitfully to understands ocial class differences in children's school experiences.