Social Origins, Parental Values, and the Transmission of Inequality

Abstract

Consensus exist among social scientists on the importance of the family of oring for a multitude of individual outcomes, but a complete understanding of the mechanisms producing these parental-filial linkages is lacking. This paper explores the interpretation of the connection between parental socioeconomic origins and adolescent schooling experiences using Melvin Kohn's concept of parental self-direction/conformity values. Using data from public school students in Louisville, Kentucky, and their mothers, we examine the role of maternal self-direction/conformity values in transmiting the effects of parental social position on a variety of schooling variables.Our results replicate the persistent relationship between father's occupational position and parental values (measured here as maternal values), and they indicate limited support for the sensitivity of adolescent school experiences to parental values for white (but not black) students.