Social Class and Parenting in Mexican American Families

Abstract

Parenting practices are a key mechanism in the transmission of class advantage from adults to children; however, Latinxs have not been a main focus of this work. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 17 middle-class and working-class and poor Mexican American parents, we explore social class patterns in childrearing practices and beliefs. Rather than stark-class differences found in previous work, we observed substantial similarities across social class lines. Our findings suggest that (1) Social mobility experienced by middle-class parents complicate class-based parenting beliefs. (2) Variation in parenting approaches in the same household mitigates class distinctions. (3) Mexican Americans’ shared contextual experiences and cultural values minimize social class differences in childrearing. These findings reshape the literature on class differences in parenting and show how social class and race and ethnicity impact childrearing beliefs and practices that are better illuminated when studied as a process.