Socializing Inequality

"This groundbreaking volume of original research by established and young international scholars shines important light on children’s active role in processes of social reproduction in the family, school, and peer group. The studies using a variety of methods add significant knowledge to a neglected but promising area of research and is sure to stimulate new and exciting theory and research on children and social reproduction in sociology, education, psychology, anthropology and related fields."

William A. Corsaro, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington and author of The Sociology of Childhood, 6th Edition

"This is a groundbreaking book for anyone interested in how children are made — class-wise. It shows how they come to develop class-based ways of thinking, acting, speaking, seeing themselves and others and how these socialization processes in childhood reproduce class privilege and inequality. At the crossroads of two dynamic and (re)emerging fields (the study of class in early childhood, and the sociology of socialization as an incorporation of the social world), this book offers a welcome and important contribution to both. It is also a terrific and lively read, bursting with ethnographic vignettes and statistical data showing children in very different spheres and situations, which makes the book great for teaching as well as research. Highly recommended!"

Muriel Darmon, Research Professor at CNRS/EHESS, Paris I – Sorbonne and author of Socialization

"This book is essential reading for all those concerned about social injustices, providing carefully, considered reflexive insights into inequalities within childhood. Strongly theorized throughout, yet powerfully grounded in fascinating empirical data Socializing Inequality makes a major contribution to our knowledge of the working of social class in the Early Years, a much neglected period in the life trajectory. Taking an international perspective, the book provides case studies from across the globe that offer new, rich understandings of the importance of both socialization within childhood, and the consequences for fairness and social justice in wider society."

Diane Reay, Professor Emeritus at Cambridge University and author of Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes