Working Class Authoritarianism and Child Socialization: An Australian Study

Abstract

SynopsisThis paper reviews class differences in patterns of child punishment, and examines the proposition that working-class parents more frequently physically punish their children whereas middle-class parents more often use the disciplinary technique of reasoning with their children. The quantitative data from previous studies which support such claims are found to be limited. New data are presented from a recent Australian survey using mothers’ reports of how they would respond to child misbehaviour. We conclude that in contemporary Australian society there are statistically significant differences in patterns of child disciplinary techniques when stratified by mothers’ education, but that (in the light of methodological and theoretical issues) these differences are relatively modest in magnitude.