White Middle Class Identities and Urban Schooling

by Reay, Diane; Crozier, Gill; James, David

• ISBN13: 9780230224018
• ISBN10: 0230224016
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book examines experiences and implications of 'against-the-grain' school choices, where white middle class families choose ordinary and 'low performing' secondary schools for their children. It offers a unique view of identity formation, taking in matters like family history, locality and whiteness.

Author Biography

DIANE REAY Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is executive editor of the British Journal of Sociology of Education and on the editorial boards of Gender and Education, The Journal of Education Policy and Sociology. Her most recent publications include Activating Participation: Parents and Teachers Working Towards Partnership (co-edited with Gill Crozier). 
 
GILL CROZIER Professor of Education and Assistant Dean Research, School of Education, Roehampton University, UK and UK director of the Comenius project on Teacher In-service Training for Roma Inclusion. Her previous publications include Parents and Schools: Partners or Protagonists? and Activating Participation: Parents and Teachers Working Towards Partnership (co-edited with Diane Reay).
 
DAVID JAMES Professor of Education at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK and co-director of the Bristol Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning and Education (BRILLE). His previous publications include the co-authored books Bourdieu and Education, The Creative Professional and Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: The White Middle Classes in the Twenty-First Century – Identities Under Siege?
White Middle Class Identity Formation: Theory and Practice
Family History, Class Practices and Habitus
Habitus as a Sense of Place
Against-the-Grain School Choice in Neoliberal Times
A Darker Shade of Pale: Whiteness as Integral to Middle Class Identity
The Psychosocial: Ambivalences and Anxieties of Privilege
Young People and the Urban Comprehensive: Remaking Cosmopolitan Citizens or Reproducing Hegemonic White Middle Class Values? Reinvigorating Democracy: Middle Class Moralities in Neoliberal Times
Conclusion:
Appendix 1: Methods and Methodology
Appendix 2: Parental Occupations and Sector
Appendix 3: The Sample Families in Terms of ACORN Categories
References