Social Class, Occupation, and Parental Values: A Cross-National Study

Abstract

Despite the considerable difference between Italian and American parents' values for their children, social class is related to parental values in much the same way in both countries. Middle-class parents in both Italy and the United States are more likely to value the child's self-direction, working-class parents the child's conformity to external proscription. Three aspects of occupation-the closeness of supervision to which a man is subjected; whether he works principally with things, with people, or with ideas; and the degree of selfreliance his job requires-are each related to parents' values for their children. Together they account for a large part of the difference between middleand working-class parents' values, especially for fathers.