New Research: “Make Sure You Look Someone in the Eye”: Socialization and Classed Comportment in Two Elementary Schools

Scholars who think and write about class have long observed the ways class norms permeate children's upbringings, resulting in adults who are either more deferential to authority (working-class) or more willing to challenge authority (middle- and upper-class).  Joan Williams trawled this literature in her early work on class, and I summarized some of it here.  

Now, Peter Francis Harvey, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, has just published an article in volume 127 of the American Journal of Sociology that shows how these classed norms seep into the very physical beings of children.  Here's the abstract: 

Limited attention has been given to how cultural skills and dispositions are transmitted from adults to children. The author examines how young children’s bodies are classed. He conducted three years of observation in two elementary schools—one upper middle class, one working class, both racially diverse. Both schools use the same program, which encourages traditionally middle-class bodily practices (e.g., handshakes at daily Morning Meetings). The author finds that effective transmission of these skills requires the repetition of both explicit and implicit lessons. Moreover, he finds that class differences creep into this socialization. Students at the upper-middle-class school increasingly refine the recommended skills (e.g., handshakes, eye contact). Meanwhile, students at the working-class school instead become increasingly expert at “respectful,” orderly types of comportment (e.g., sitting still for extended periods, not interrupting). These findings suggest that bodily socialization is a multifaceted process. It is not reserved for adults or elites but taught to children across the class spectrum. The physical quality of cultural performance is discussed.

The author further describes the work in a Twitter thread here.  I would love to see more work like this, squarely attending to class.  So much scholarly literature focuses on proving racial differences without, perhaps, looking at class differences that cut across race, as this study did.