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By Root 1511 0

over time. Even as children became autonomous adolescents with driver’s licenses, jobs, and dorm rooms, the middle-class parents closely monitored and intervened in their lives. A few decades ago many similarly aged young people would have been married, with children of their own. But the middle-class youth in this study, now nineteen to twenty-one years old, appeared to be needy and, in crucial ways, still under the wing of their mothers and fathers. By contrast, although similarly aged, the working-class and poor young adults appeared to be more independent. They were very grateful for the love and support their parents had given them in the face of scarce resources. But they were, in Wendy’s words, “grown.” For their part, working-class and poor parents generally accepted that their children had become autonomous adults. They offered help when that seemed possible, and they ached with disappointment when the dreams they had held for their children’s futures grew increasingly unattainable.

What are the implications of this evidence of persisting patterns? For research on social stratification, the follow-up study results suggest a need to broaden and reconceptualize our analysis of how social class does, and does not, matter in daily life. Researchers need to pay more attention to the crucial role of middle-class parents’ informal knowledge of how institutions work; the educational, economic, and social resources they bring to bear in order to realize their goals; and the countless individually insignificant but cumulatively advantageous interventions on behalf of their children these parents make over time.59

For example, beyond an aspiration or a desire to see Stacey succeed, Ms. Marshall drew on many different class resources as she sought to prepare her daughter for college. Recall Ms. Marshall’s insistence that her daughter enroll in a summer algebra course. In taking this action, Ms. Marshall defined herself as capable of assessing her daughter’s educational needs; unlike Ms. Yanelli, she did not need to depend on someone “educated” to tell her what to do. Ms. Marshall also determined a customized plan of action to shore up the weakness she perceived in Stacey’s school performance. Unlike Ms. Driver, she did not accept the generic academic plan offered to her daughter. Instead, she devised an approach that would strengthen Stacey’s math skills before any serious problems developed. In so doing, Ms. Marshall drew on a formidable amount of informal knowledge about how educational institutions function. This informal knowledge was linked to her own educational and occupational experiences; it was not routinely available to all parents. In addition, Ms. Marshall’s plan of action was molded to match her daughter’s temperament and needs. The impact of parental interventions that have this level of complexity—involving both customized action and long-term planning—is very difficult for researchers to isolate and measure. Indeed, in studies based on surveys, Stacey’s strong math performance in high school would likely be interpreted as a matter of her own ability or her level of educational attainment. The role this middle-class mother played in “boosting” and managing her daughter’s math skills vanishes. It is hidden beneath unexamined assumptions regarding the effects of students’ natural ability or hard work.60

Another area that deserves greater attention from social scientists is the drawbacks of middle-class family life. (Likewise, there should be more studies of the potential advantages of the cultural repertoires of working-class and poor families.) For example, high-achieving middle-class high school students often juggle demanding academic work and multiple extracurricular activities, leaving them with little or no free time. While many enjoy the fast pace and pressures, others are left joyless and alienated by the constant quest to succeed.61 There are other costs too. Parents complain of spending hundreds of hours helping their children through the college search process. Applying and getting into college has