How does parental time relate to social class in a Nordic welfare state

Bibliographic Data

ID2301320
AuthorsAnne Lise Ellingsæter (0000-0003-0458-5731, University of Oslo, corresponding author), Ragni Hege Kitterød (0000-0002-5956-9301, Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Norway), M N Hansen (0000-0003-3487-8666, University of Oslo)
Year2022
Volume65
Issue2
Pages150-165
Publication date2022-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Sociologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6993 • E-ISSN: 1502-3869
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00016993211052079
OpenAlexW3216135764
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited47

Time intensive parenting has spread in Western countries. This study contributes to the literature on parental time use, aiming to deepen our understanding of the relationship between parental childcare time and social class. Based on time-diary data (2010-2011) from Norway, and a concept of social class that links parents' amount and composition of economic and cultural capital, we examine the time spent by parents on childcare activities. The analysis shows that class and gender intersect: intensive motherhood, as measured by time spent on active childcare, including developmental childcare activities thought to stimulate children's skills, is practised by all mothers. A small group of mothers in the economic upper-middle class fraction spend even more time on childcare than the other mothers. The time fathers spend on active childcare is less than mothers', and intra-class divisions are notable. Not only lower-middle class fathers, but also cultural/balanced upper-middle class fathers spend the most time on intensive fathering. Economic upper-middle and working-class fathers spend the least time on childcare. This new insight into class patterns in parents' childcare time challenges the widespread notion of different cultural childcare logics in the middle class, compared to the working class

Class (philosophy · Cultural capital · Demographic economics · Developmental psychology · Economics · Middle class · Political science · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Time-use survey · Welfare · Welfare state · Work (physics · Working class · Early Childhood Education and Development · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges