Learning Racial Literacy While Navigating White Social Studies

Abstract

How do children develop racial literacy? How do they make sense of and respond to the master narratives of race and racism? What role does elementary social studies education play in children’s racial literacy development? I explored these questions as a parent–researcher, inquiring how my child, an Asian American elementary student, develops racial literacy as she learns U.S. history at school. In the following, I first situate my inquiry within the literature on social studies education from a critical race perspective. Next, I delineate my positionality as a critical race motherscholar and the rationale for studying my own child. Last, I present the findings from my inquiry and discuss its implications for elementary social studies education.     

Elite Colleges and Socioeconomic Status

Elite colleges have long been associated with socioeconomic reproduction, passing along elite social standing to children of middle and upper‐middle socioeconomic status (SES) parents. How has that role changed during the expansion of American higher education over the past 50 years? Have elite colleges and universities also become providers of socioeconomic mobility? In this essay, I outline recent demographic, admissions, and financial aid changes at these institutions and compare both in‐college experiences and college outcomes between low‐SES and more‐affluent students at elite colleges. I argue that although elite colleges and universities do include greater numbers of low‐SES students than in earlier generations and have great potential for even further inclusion, they remain far from serving as broad engines of socioeconomic mobility.     

The ‘Go‐Between’: Low‐Income Children Negotiating Relationships of Money and Care with Their Separated Parents

The UK is moving from a centralised administrative child support system to one of private ordering where the state will only intervene under limited circumstances. This requires parents to agree and set up suitable, sustainable arrangements. This has particular implications for children, although the child perspective is often overlooked. This article situates children as active social agents exploring their interactions and negotiations with their separated‐parents with regard to money, time and parenting. It argues that policies that do not take into account the agentic child's experiences and perspectives may fail to address the impact of policy on children's lives.     

Gambling behaviours and associated familial influences among 9-year old Pacific children in New Zealand

There is a paucity of research investigating child gambling, particularly studies that do not use retrospective designs. The presented findings provide cross-sectional data of the gambling behaviours of 874 9-year old Pacific children from a birth cohort study (recruited from one hospital) investigating health, developmental and social outcomes for Pacific children and their families in New Zealand. Structured interviews were administered to participants (mothers and children), face to face, in their homes (mothers) or school (children). Child gambling behaviours and associations with some maternal behaviours were investigated; five gambling participation questions were included in the child interview. Almost all child respondents (96%) reported having played card games with family or friends and 60% reported participation in housie (bingo), although only 27% reported having bet with money. Associations were noted between child gambling and household deprivation, and effectiveness of parental monitoring. There was no association between children's gambling and mothers' gambling. This is the first research to examine gambling in Pacific children at 9 years of age within a familial context. It will allow exploration of links between parental gambling and child development of gambling behaviours, as well as risk and protective factors for problem gambling at future data collection phases of the study.     

Unequal opportunities among unequal states: The importance of examining state characteristics in making social welfare policies regarding children

This paper examines the disparate social well-being outcomes children experience across states in the United States. The paper seeks to extend the study of child social well-being by examining the extent to which state characteristics influence aggregate child social well-being outcomes. The results indicate that socioeconomic and population characteristics of states influence the magnitude of aggregate child social well-being deficits. It is argued that the disparities in child social well-being outcomes for children across states should be taken into consideration in the current welfare reform climate. Because states have gained greater control over programs that assist the poorest and most vulnerable families and children, states with large child social well-being deficits will likely experience even larger deficits as many state TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) policies and practices do not adequately support poor families.     

A multidimensional approach to child poverty in Taiwan

To elucidate the multidimensional nature of poverty, this study analyzed child deprivation and social exclusion in Taiwan. First, a fuzzy set approach was used to construct an aggregate poverty index, to measure the levels of perceived necessity, deprivation, and social exclusion experienced by children. The study involved conducting a decomposition analysis to measure the poverty index according to certain dimensions. Second, this study involved analyzing possible determinants of perceived necessity, deprivation, and social exclusion, using seemingly unrelated regression models. We used cross-sectional data obtained from the Household Living Conditions Survey conducted in 2014. The results suggest that over two-thirds of the respondents identified all the items as necessary. Three highest levels of perceived necessity were housing, medical care, and clothing dimensions. Children faced high risks of deprivation and exclusion. The three highest levels of deprivation and exclusion were exhibited in the dimensions of environment, recreation, and education; the lowest two levels of deprivation and exclusion were exhibited in the dimensions of medical care and housing. The dimensions with higher levels of deprivation and exclusion exhibited higher relative contributions to facilitating poverty reduction. Moreover, evaluation of income and expenditure, family income, and family type were significantly related to the degree of perceived necessity and the levels of deprivation and exclusion. Those living in families with a large number of children exhibited a higher level of deprivation. Education of the caregivers was closely linked to social exclusion of children. This paper represents preliminary and small-scale research; however, several implications for methodology and policy can be derived from this study.     

Class Reproduction by Four Year Olds

While scholars know that young children are active if inadvertent participants in social reproduction, little has been said about how young children engage in class reproduction. Through observing in a preschool classroom with a class diverse student body, I show that preschoolers are already class actors, performing class through their linguistic styles. Upper-middle-class children speak, interrupt, ask for help, and argue more often than working-class children. Upper-middle-class children’s classed linguistic style effectively silences working-class students, gives them less power, and allows them fewer opportunities to develop their language skills. The children’s linguistic class performances have immediate consequences and potential future implications for class reproduction.     

Socioeconomic causes of child labor in urban Nigeria

Drawing on interviews with 1,535 children (aged 8–14 years) in urban Nigeria, this study introduces two new measures of child labor—child's ownership of business and control over earnings—to supplement the conventional use of a child's hours of work and to create a wider understanding of child labor. It examines the causes of child labor and how these measures vary by parental socioeconomic status. Study of this relationship is important for a deeper understanding of the varying patterns of child labor, as well as for clarifying the cultural and economic socialization of children. Our findings show that children of parents with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to own businesses rather than assist parents. These children are also more likely to keep and spend their work earnings. Our results also offer strong support of the poverty hypothesis and the socialization theory, which are often used to explain child labor in developing societies. Furthermore, our results indicate that children of parents with higher levels of socioeconomic status work fewer hours. These findings have implications for regulating child labor and for alleviating its consequences.     

The Measurement of Child Poverty in the United States

How poverty is defined and measured has significant implications for the identification of children in need. This article evaluates the current measure of child poverty in the United States in order to gauge its appropriateness for assessing child well-being. The article begins with a brief discussion of the meaning of poverty and evaluates the history, structure, and strengths of the official measure of child poverty. In addition, critical shortcomings that potentially mask the known deprivation of poverty are revealed and Amartya Sen's capability approach is introduced as a tool for capturing this deprivation. The overall premise of this article, therefore, is that the discourse on poverty might benefit by reconceptualizing approaches to measuring and defining poverty.     

Kuznets’s Inverted U-Curve Hypothesis: The Rise,Demise, and Continued Relevance of a Socioeconomic Law

This paper provides a historical analysis of the changing significance of the most influential statement ever made on inequality and development—Simon Kuznets’s “inverted U-curve hypothesis.” The shifting interpretations and appropriations of the hypothesis over time—from its status as a speculative supposition in 1955, to its rise and fall as a reified socioeconomic law, to its contested standing in the social sciences today—demonstrate how Kuznets’s arguments, originally advanced under more limited conditions, became transformed into overarching theoretical, empirical, and political constructions. This history suggests that even empirically grounded and testable social science models are contingent on the broader social and political contexts in which they are produced and negotiated.     

Who do you think they were? How family historians make sense of social position and inequality in the past

How do social comparisons over time shape perceptions of inequality? In thinking about subjective inequality, it is important to ask which social comparisons matter in establishing people's sense of relative social position and wider inequalities. These issues are discussed by drawing on a qualitative study of popular genealogy, which examines how people make sense of social position in the past, and explores how social change affects people's sense of social hierarchies. The gaze of family history promotes certain sorts of social comparisons, between ‘then and now’, and between immediate kin, which can flatten the sense of social hierarchies. However, the ability to determine social position also depends on the quality of information available, and how different practical engagements facilitate ‘sideways’ comparisons between contemporaries, affording different fields of vision on relative inequalities. On this evidence, when exploring subjective inequality it is necessary to examine when and how people engage in social comparison as part of everyday practical activities.     

Implications for nursing of the new national curriculum in personal,social and health education and education in citizenship

This article examines implications for nursing of the recent Government initiative to revise the National Curriculum in personal, social and health education (PSHE) in primary and secondary schools and to provide education in Citizenship for children and young people. Health education is but one strand of child health promotion which is rightly the concern of multidisciplinary team members. This initiative crosses the boundaries of health, education and social policy. It presents the challenge of new health promotion roles for child health nurses working in partnership with teachers in schools where the central focus will be empowerment of children and young people to fill their potential for achievement. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moving Up and Down the Ladder: Perceived Social Mobility and Emotional Dispositions Among South Florida's Immigrants

Migrating to a new country is often associated with difficulties such as social isolation, financial strain, language barriers, and cultural differences. Less is known about how social mobility brought about by migration may be related to the emotional dispositions of immigrants (also referred to as subjective well‐being). To examine this relationship, we utilize data from a representative sample of 1,268 first‐generation immigrants from 80 different countries living in South Florida. Changes in perceived social mobility between the homeland and the United States—moving up and down the socioeconomic ladder—are indeed associated with differences in immigrants' negative dispositions. We draw from literature on expectations, social comparisons, and subjective class status to explain these findings. We do not find a statistically significant association between changes in socioeconomic status and positive dispositions, which may suggest that losses outweigh migration‐related gains. Additionally, findings reveal that nondominant groups fare worse than Cubans (the dominant group in the region) with regard to dispositions. Social comparisons to the dominant ethnic group may explain this, as well as perceptions of relative deprivation experienced by groups not favored by immigration policies and underrepresented in social and economic institutions. We conclude by discussing implications on how negative emotional dispositions represent risk factors that could affect immigrants' mental health.     

Remittances and inequality in Cape Verde: the impact of changing family organization

There is a risk that remittances exacerbate socio‐economic inequality among the recipients. In this case study of a Cape Verdean community I explore how variations in family organization interact with the distribution of remittances and their effects on local social stratification. Formerly, the typical migrant was male and directed the main part of his remittances to a nuclear household he had left behind. Households that included a male migrant were able to raise their standard of living over that of households without a migrant member. Today, relationships between women and men have become increasingly unstable and long‐lasting transnational family ties are now rarely based on a conjugal relationship. Both women and men migrate and they often start up a new family abroad. Consequently, when migrants send remittances to Cape Verde they do not invest in their own future lives as they did in the past. Instead, they try to support ageing parents and young children left behind. This means that migrants often have economic obligations to several households and that they are therefore only able to send limited amounts of money to each. This implies, first, that many households are recipients of remittances and, second, that they normally only receive small sums. In conclusion, it may be said that these changes in family organization have reduced the risk that remittances will exacerbate inequality.     

Doing research with children and young people who do not use speech for communication

Despite emphasis in policy on participation of disabled children,¹ we still know relatively little about how to obtain the views of disabled children with significant communication impairment and their views are often overlooked in planning and service provision. This article describes how the views of children who do not use speech were accessed in research aiming to identify disabled children and young people's priorities regarding outcomes of social care and support services. The main challenge was to develop a method that was reliable, non‐threatening, enjoyable and relevant to individual children, as well as enabling children to think beyond their everyday life and express what they aspire to.     

Giving,Saving, Spending: What Would Children Do with £1 Million?

This article explores children's responses to a single question: ‘If someone gave you £1 million today, what would you do with it?’ Although such an exploration might seem trivial, we argue that their responses provide important insights into children's values and priorities. One‐third intend to spend it all, one quarter to save it. But the largest group claim that they would give all or some of the money away. Their responses highlight the divergent ways in which children use money to foster particular forms of social relations and social standing. Against the prevalent discourse of consumer society, the dominant theme of giving may indicate that the individualism of neoliberalism is less pervasive than is often feared, but also suggest that further research is needed into the social contexts and processes which encourage children to be ‘givers’, ‘savers’ or ‘spenders’.     

Class Formation and Class Identity: Birth,Death, and Possibilities for Renewal

While social class served as a powerful organizing identity for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, many doubt its contemporary relevance. This article examines the formation and development of theories of class identity over the past century. From a debate largely among Marxists in the early 20th century about the conditions under which the working class will mobilize to defend its interests – moving from a “class in itself” to a “class for itself” – the question of the relationship between individuals' class position, social interests, and political mobilization attracted greater attention among social scientists following World War II. However, postwar socioeconomic transformations led some to argue for the “death of class” as a central organizing principle for modern social and political life. While others countered that class identities remained relevant, the sharp decline in class‐based organization in the late 20th century led scholars to develop more nuanced understandings of the relationship between individuals' class position and collective identities. Although current scholarship shows that there is no natural translation of class identities into collective action, the reality of growing socioeconomic inequality, along with the resurgence of social and political mobilizations to contest that growth, suggests that class identities retain the capacity to unite.     

Beyond averages: Child well-being in Kazakhstan

With the majority of poor people now living in middle-income countries and the post-millennium development goals framework taking shape, the issue of inequality has gained prominence in many policy debates. Although detailed assessments of poverty and well-being are crucial for formulating adequate policies, all too often such assessments focus on average outcomes. In this paper we present an analysis of child well-being for Kazakhstan that moves beyond averages in two ways: first, it explicitly reports on the situations of different socioeconomic groups of children in society; second, it applies a method that is diversified by age group and thereby accounts for differences among children across stages of childhood. Kazakhstan illustrates the need for more nuanced and in-depth analyses, given the significant but far from universal economic growth within the country. We find that there are large discrepancies in child well-being outcomes between different regions and that high levels of economic output do not necessarily go hand in hand with improved outcomes in terms of poverty and well-being. We argue that child well-being studies need to be more in depth, thereby ensuring that levels of inequity across socioeconomic groups and between children in different age groups are given due consideration.     

Adolescent fathers involved with child protection: social workers speak

This study examined adolescent paternity through structured interviews with their social workers. It adds to the literature by exploring if there were young men involved with the child protection services (CPS) system who are fathers, identifying their unique needs, and beginning discussions on working with these young men. CPS social workers from six area offices and one juvenile detention facility completed surveys for each father on their caseload. A 3.5% rate of adolescent paternity was observed across these offices. Information about the nature of the young men's involvement with CPS, their involvement with their children, and their unique needs as fathers are provided. This paper also identifies some practice and policy implications for adolescent fathers and CPS charged with their care.     

Commercial sexual exploitation of children in Zimbabwe: A threat to human and social development

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in child sex work is reportedly rising in Zimbabwe. While children of both sexes are affected, more females than males are forced to engage in sexual acts in exchange for money, food, access to shelter, education or some other gains from adults who control these means of survival and commodities. Drivers of CSEC include socioeconomic factors, negative peer pressure, childhood abuse, the influence of uncensored social media, and, more recently, the economic impact of COVID-19. Involvement in underage sex work exposes children to severe adversities, such as psychosocial and mental health disorders, physical and biological injuries, venereal diseases and HIV. CSEC is a growing concern for resource-limited countries, disenfranchises children and robs particularly the girl child of a better future. The worsening socioeconomic landscape in Zimbabwe and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the problem. Solving the problem of CSEC requires a multipronged approach that involves stakeholders from several sectors, including public health, education, social services, security and the legal fraternity. There is a need to empower communities, empower civil society and development partners, enhance legal frameworks, provide messaging, education and vocational training, as well as rehabilitative services for affected children and their families. CSEC is a violation of the child's rights and a public health concern that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency to preserve the next generation's human capital necessary for the sustainable development of Zimbabwe.