Concerted Cultivation - Parenting 'practices'

Parenting 'practices'

In social stratification (a specific area of study in sociology) different parenting practices lead children to have different upbringings. Differences in child rearing are identified and associated with different social classes.

The two types of child rearing that are introduced by Dr. Annette Lareau (sociologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania) are concerted cultivation and natural growth. Concerted cultivation parenting is associated with those parents who have traditionally white collar jobs and those considered to be part of the middle class. Natural growth parenting is associated with blue collar workers of the working class. Parenting practices do not apply exclusively to social classes, but they are highly correlated. She claims that the only defining factor as to how a child is raised is the amount of money that his or her parents have. There is not a complete correlation between money and child rearing practices; however, wealth and income are the most significant defining factors as to which child-rearing practice will be used.