Family Habitus Research Articles

The role of familial habitus in shaping children's views of their future employment

As the field of Geographies of Children, Youth and Families grows and diversifies as a testament to the active and vigorous interest in this area of research, the collection of papers presented wit...

Family Habitus as the Cultural Context for Childhood

The article is based on a longitudinal qualitative study carried out by the author on children and their families in two areas of Belgrade (Serbia) in 1993-4 and 2000. Its goal is to provide an insight into how everyday life is structured and constructed for children by their family habitus. There are significant distinctions in how families from different social strata use their resources and thereby provide different cultural contexts for children. The main conclusion is that family habitus has a strong influence on allocation, distribution and the use of family resources and thereby structures the everyday life of children. At the same time, it activates different kinds of capital for (and by) children and thereby constructs different childhood practices.

MATHEMATICS LEARNING TRAJECTORIES: CLASS, CAPITAL AND CONFLICT

This is the story of Marie and Edward as they approach the time of transfer from the primary to the secondary school. They both consider themselves to be successful mathematicians and have shared common classroom experiences throughout their time in the primary school. However, as they approach this critical relocation point it becomes clear that their future mathematical careers are set on two distinct trajectories. This paper explores the impact of the class-formed family habitus on them as learners of mathematics, and describes how family transferred cultural capital propels one of them whilst notions of conflict threaten to restrict the progress of the other.

Gender Issues in Parental Involvement in Student Choices of Higher Education

This article explores gender, social class and ethnic issues in parental involvement in students' choices of higher education. It draws upon interviews with students and their parents, who were a small group of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of students' higher education choice processes in the UK. Gender was highly significant in several respects, illustrating changes in higher education over the last 20 years, whereby more women than men now enter higher education. Most of the interviewees were female. They were mothers and daughters who were thinking about higher education. The article explores first how gender is inflected in choice processes--from whether students choose to involve their parents in the study, to their parents' characteristics, to the forms of involvement revealed. Different facets of involvement are considered--interest, influence and support, investment and intrusion. Secondly, the article provides illustrations of girls' collaborative approaches to the choice processes, in which some of their mothers also engage. This is contrasted with boys' perspectives and those of fathers who were interviewed. This illustrates how gender is woven through social networks across the generations. Parental involvement varied in terms of gender, educational and social backgrounds, or notions of 'institutional' and 'familial habitus'. Finally, the authors reflect upon why gender is salient in how young people and their parents think about their involvement in choosing universities and relate this to changes in higher education policies and practices.