The reproduction of working class? Social mobility and the stratification of parenting practice in urban Chinese families

Abstract

Parenting practice, an embodied cultural capital, is class based. The findings of this study showed that in urban Chinese families, the middle class was inclined to adopt the practice of concerted cultivation while the working class was inclined to adopt the practice of natural growth. However, those who were born in working-class families but were able to achieve upward mobility to the middle class were more likely to adopt similar practices to those who stayed in the middle class; those who were born in middle-class families but moved downward were able to retain some aspects of parenting practices similar to those who stayed in the middle class. The findings of the unbalanced reproduction of parenting practice do not support the argument that class boundaries have solidified in Chinese society.