Introduction
Despite the intention to create equal opportunities in American society, some problems still exist and challenge people in different spheres. Educational inequalities remain to be one of the most frequently discussed issues because all students and their families can’t ask for similar opportunities due to their social classes. Many researchers, educators, and sociologists are involved in independent projects to prove the necessity to investigate social mobility in schools. Jessica McCrory Calarco is a sociologist who wrote a book Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School in 2018, contributing to the conversation about social class differences. According to Calarco (2018), the middle-class advantage is an outcome of negotiations organized by students in their desire to request what is fair and required from their teachers and society. Unfortunately, many families cannot follow the same way, and their situations are evaluated through the prism of different approaches, including feminist theory, functionalism, or symbolic interactionalism. This paper focuses on the beliefs about social mobility and inequalities in schools based on the middle-class advantage achieved as a result of negotiations and a thorough analysis of opportunities.
Class Students
The United States is one of the countries where the actual place of living could influence the quality of education and real opportunities. If a family has a solid income and could choose a location to live, children can go to the desired school and study as per their possibilities but not as per the circumstances they have. Parents of middle-class children explain that they deserve certain rights and use the strategy of influence to demand something from society (Calarco, 2018). The concept of entitlement is frequently applied to understand the nature of educational processes. It is normal to use threats and neglect simple norms of respect for other people. Middle-class parents participate in their children’s lives because they have enough time and can change the situation. In such families, children know how and when to ask for help and use it as a priority.
At the same time, many working-class American families cannot afford to live in the districts where the best public schools are. They use the strategy of deference when respect and fear are used to cover the existing constraints (Calarco, 2018). In the movie Infinitely Polar Bear, two young girls from the Stuart family cannot understand why they should lie about their home and why it is illegal (Forbes, 2014). However, their mother understands that they do not have enough money to live and does everything she could to provide her children with a high-quality education. It is her choice to create an advantage and remove social injustice from her family, at least for a moment. In working-class families, parents expect their children to cooperate and become responsible on their own to appreciate the opportunities they have. The outcomes of such social differences are hard to predict because much depends on how a child perceives the offered chances and develops personal and professional skills.
About Social Mobility
To investigate the idea of social mobility and differences between middle-class and working-class families, the impact of negotiation has to be identified. Calarco (2018) conducted research where she studied the negotiated advantage developed by middle-class students and working-class students. Her main question is how middle-class students should secure unequal advantages in school and deal with challenges in the classroom. To find an answer to this question, Calarco (2018) offers the term “social mobility” as the intention to change something in life and achieve a higher social status, starting from education. Her main argument is that all students can use their advantages. However, parenting styles and the relationships developed within families predetermine the behaviors of students and provoke different reactions and attitudes toward benefits and challenges (Calarco, 2018). Relying on evidence obtained from interviews with Maplewood students, parents, and teachers, as well as observations of student behaviors from 3rd to 7th grade, Calarco (2018) made a number of conclusions by comparing the answers and expectations. Communication proved that parents are free to develop their judgments regardless of their classes and offered examples.
The goal of the book under analysis is not to create some recommendations and guide middle- or working-class families on how to behave and treat their children. The author underlines that it is neither a quantitative nor an experimental study but an observational one to show how interactions between children, parents, and teachers happen (Calarco, 2018). She uses the existing research results as a theoretical background but does not offer theoretical contributions. The point is that social mobility is not a problem that has to be solved or a challenge that should be overcome. It is a process that exists and will exist in American society, and the task is to describe, contributing to the field of sociology as a source for further discussions. In upwardly mobile working-class families, parents believe that respect to authority and the possibility to solve problems independently is a key to their children’s success (Calarco, 2018). In upwardly mobile middle-class families, teachers (not peers) are the main resources of support (Calarco, 2018). The results reflect what happens to children in their classrooms due to their parents’ impact.
Economic inequalities in school exist not because of children or teachers but because of their parents and readiness to take steps and change something. In Infinitely Polar Bear, working-class parents do not choose one particular strategy for their children to follow in their education. On the one hand, the father is not involved in studies, and children are responsible for their studies, and the mother underlines the importance of respect to teachers, which are the characteristics of working-class families. On the other hand, the mother wants the best education for their children as it is their right, which is the entitlement characteristic of middle-class families. She says, “We both got a good education, and I want that for our children” (Forbes, 2014). The mother knows that her children deserve a better life, and she follows her plan, even if it means sacrificing her family relationship. In this case, social mobility is not a challenge but a chance to support students. Inequalities may exist in life that people choose themselves, but parents have no right to make these inequalities enter their children’s life without a fight.
Theories to Support Inequalities in Education
Despite the inability to predict the rules and conditions under which the social advantage is achieved, social mobility cannot be removed from human lives. There is a burning need for people to take action, develop, and grow. In working-class families, parents try to create the conditions for children to access better schools on their own, while middle-class families rely on school help and options (Calarco, 2018). Instead of continuing to take unreasonable but secure steps, Calarco (2018) offers to consider the examples of cultural capital or resistance theories. In this paper, attention will be paid to the other three theories, known as feminist theory, functionalism, or symbolic interactionalism.
The presence of the social advantage in the education system provokes a number of conflicts and misunderstandings similar to those discussed by feminist theorists. The supporters of feminism consider women as the subjects of oppression in the system and use differences between genders to prove their position. In social class theories, differences create new concerns and binaries where middle-class and working-class representatives exist. The relationship between class and gender inequalities is an example of the historical advantage. Men got more opportunities and respect compared to women, and inequalities were rooted in employment status (women could not get the jobs they wanted or liked because of prejudiced attitudes toward the role of a woman in society). In Infinitely Polar Bear, Maggie had to move to another city to find a well-paid job and become socially mobile for her children (Forbes, 2014). Gender and social class differences are interrelated, and feminist theories are necessary to reduce inequalities and find ways of understanding the relationships between groups.
Symbolic interactionism is another sociological theory in terms of which classes may be investigated. The main idea of this approach is meaning is obtained as a result of collaboration and interaction. In addition, all meanings remain in a state of transformation, which proves the concept of social mobility when people have to move to certain results. Calarco (2018) underlines that, to achieve the social advantage, families have to be mobile and flexible in using different strategies at the same time. However, focusing on symbolic interactionism as a means of communication and the development of views about the world, this theory turns out to be one of the best options to understand social mobility in schools.
Feminist theory and symbolic interactionism determine social mobility and economic inequalities as a problem that has to be solved, and the theory of functionalism can be applied to explain the appropriateness of the social advantage. According to functionalists, each norm or role that provokes diversity serves a specific purpose to promote the society’s survival. People are in need of social order to identify and follow their needs. In terms of this theory, individuals gain a meaning of their existence when they are divided into classes or groups. They have to act, decide, and strive for something, removing barriers and solving problems.
Conclusion
Calarco’s observations, the experience of the main characters in the movie Infinitely Polar Bear, and social theories prove that the concept of social mobility in schools is an obligatory process of human development. Middle-class and working-class parents have to cooperate with teachers to provide their children with the best education, and children, in their turn, should collaborate with peers and demonstrate their respect. Economic inequalities, as well as other forms of diversity, are a part of human history that cannot be removed from modern society. Instead of complaining of the lack of opportunities or the power of the social advantage, families have to communicate, find meanings, and consider options to achieve equal advantages and improve the child’s future.
References
Calarco, J. M. (2018). Negotiating opportunities: How the middle class secures advantages in school. Oxford University Press.
Forbes, M. (2014). Infinitely polar bear [Film]. Paper Street Films.