Parents' Hopes and Expectations for Their Children's Future Occupations

Bibliographic Data

ID3572104
AuthorsSusan Irwin (0000-0001-9591-147X, University of Leeds), Sarah Irwin (0000-0003-2930-3569), Sharon Elley (0000-0002-9047-7659, University of Leeds)
Year2013
Volume61
Issue1
Pages111-130
Publication date2013-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2012.02139.x
OpenAlexW1479738378
LanguageEN
Citations received44
References cited23

Qualitative research has generated important insights into the intersection of social class, parental values and children's experiences of education and their role in the reproduction of inequalities. There has been less analytic engagement with parents' expectations and aspirations regarding their children's future occupations. Such expectations and aspirations have attracted much research and policy interest. Typically, analyses have been quantitative and focused on outcomes for children. Whilst parental expectations are deemed very influential for children's future occupational outcomes, there is relatively little evidence on the shaping of such expectations, or the ways in which future work and occupations are discussed between parents and children. This article reports on an analysis of parents' ideas about their children's future occupations and the contexts in which these ideas accrue meaning. Drawing on primary data from interviews with parents we explore diversity within, as well as across, social classes. First we explore parents' expectations and aspirations for their children's future occupations. Secondly we consider how parents see their own role in shaping such futures. The evidence highlights the salience of parents' own biographies and class backgrounds in shaping their orientations to, and manner of engagement with, their children's futures. Thirdly we briefly explore how parents' expectations and engagement with their children play out in class differentiated ways as their children approach early adulthood

Developmental psychology · Diversity (politics) · Futures contract · Inequality · Meaning (existential) · Pedagogy · Political science · Salience (neuroscience) · Social class · Social inequality · Sociology · Sociology of Education · Early Childhood Education and Development · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · Social Psychology