Katherin Barg
Biographic Data
| ID | 251482 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katherin Barg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katherin |
| FAMILY NAME | Barg |
| SIGNATURE | BARG K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3135-4947 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 73 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
From spreadsheets to storybooks
This study examines how the skill requirements of mothers’ occupations influence their parenting practices during early childhood. We used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of children born in 2000–2002, linked to occupation-specific skill profiles derived from the British Skills Surveys. Parenting behaviors were measured when children were ages 5 ( N = 12,892) and 7 ( N = 11,265), cap…
Socioeconomic inequalities in teacher-student relationships at age 5
Teacher-student relationship quality has been found to be important for a range of educational outcomes. It appears to be associated with student socioeconomic background, but little is known about the processes driving socioeconomic inequalities in teacher-student relationships. In this paper we draw on cultural reproduction theory to suggest three mechanisms linking student socioeconomic background with teacher-student relationship quality: stu…
Student Socioeconomic Status and Teacher-Student Perceptual Discrepancies of School Effort and Enjoyment
Congruence between teacher and student perceptions of student academic attitudes reflects positive teacher-student relationships and enables teachers to adjust to students' needs. This study investigates discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions of student's school enjoyment and effort, and whether these discrepancies are associated with student SES. It also tests one mechanism-student visibility-that may be driving the association wi…
Maternal Occupation-Specific Skills and Children's Cognitive Development
This article hypothesizes that maternal occupation-specific skills are associated with children's cognitive development over and above parents' other human, financial and social capital. Data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study on 13,543 children were complemented with occupation-level data (n = 79) from the British Skills Surveys on aggregate measures of mothers' occupation-specific skills (literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, verbal and physica…
A comparative perspective on social class inequalities in parental involvement in education
The goal of this paper is to extend research on parental involvement in education and its relationship to social class and inequalities. We do so by developing a new theoretical framework that helps us to better understand and explain cross-national and cross-cultural differences in how parental involvement in education differs across socio-economic groups. We propose that giving greater analytical attention to the role of institutional factors, …
Better than average? Parental competence beliefs and socioeconomic background
This article investigates the extent to which parents believe they are better than average parents using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The article builds on a long tradition of sociological research focusing on the interconnections between parenting, class, education and inequality. We find that mothers with low levels of education are more likely to say they are average or worse than average parents. Relatedly, we show that those who…
Relative risk aversion models
This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model tha…
Investigating the Imagination of Possible and 'Like-to-Avoid' Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University
Access to and participation in higher education (HE) remains unequal, with social background continuing to influence decisions and experiences. In this paper, we undertake a proof-of-concept design to apply the theory of 'possible selves', as adapted by Harrison and published in Social Sciences (2018), to university students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 first-year students, fro…
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession.…
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an importan…
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty-first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent's social class, religion, …
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents
Educational Choice and Cultural Capital
This article analyses the impact of social class on families' and teachers' decision-making within an institutionalized family-school dialogue in France. The dialogue decides which upper secondary school track a student will attend and consists of three main steps: (1) family's school track request; (2) staff meeting's subsequent school track proposition; and (3) family's optional rejection of the staff's proposition. Using national longitudinal …
The Influence of Students' Social Background and Parental Involvement on Teachers' School Track Choices
In France, the transition from lower to upper secondary education is quite particular: families are involved in an institutionalized dialogue with the school. In the first step of this dialogue, the families pronounce a school track request; in the second step, the staff meeting formulates a school track proposition. As a third step, the families have the option to reject the staff's decision and if they do so, they are invited to discuss their r…
The Influence of Students' Social Background and Parental Involvement on Teachers' School Track Choices
In France, the transition from lower to upper secondary education is quite particular: families are involved in an institutionalized dialogue with the school. In the first step of this dialogue, the families pronounce a school track request; in the second step, the staff meeting formulates a school track proposition. As a third step, the families have the option to reject the staff's decision and if they do so, they are invited to discuss their r…
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents
Relative risk aversion models
This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model tha…
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty-first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent's social class, religion, …
Educational Choice and Cultural Capital
This article analyses the impact of social class on families' and teachers' decision-making within an institutionalized family-school dialogue in France. The dialogue decides which upper secondary school track a student will attend and consists of three main steps: (1) family's school track request; (2) staff meeting's subsequent school track proposition; and (3) family's optional rejection of the staff's proposition. Using national longitudinal …
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an importan…
Investigating the Imagination of Possible and 'Like-to-Avoid' Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University
Access to and participation in higher education (HE) remains unequal, with social background continuing to influence decisions and experiences. In this paper, we undertake a proof-of-concept design to apply the theory of 'possible selves', as adapted by Harrison and published in Social Sciences (2018), to university students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 first-year students, fro…
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession.…
Better than average? Parental competence beliefs and socioeconomic background
This article investigates the extent to which parents believe they are better than average parents using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The article builds on a long tradition of sociological research focusing on the interconnections between parenting, class, education and inequality. We find that mothers with low levels of education are more likely to say they are average or worse than average parents. Relatedly, we show that those who…
The Influence of Students' Social Background and Parental Involvement on Teachers' School Track Choices
In France, the transition from lower to upper secondary education is quite particular: families are involved in an institutionalized dialogue with the school. In the first step of this dialogue, the families pronounce a school track request; in the second step, the staff meeting formulates a school track proposition. As a third step, the families have the option to reject the staff's decision and if they do so, they are invited to discuss their r…
Educational Choice and Cultural Capital
This article analyses the impact of social class on families' and teachers' decision-making within an institutionalized family-school dialogue in France. The dialogue decides which upper secondary school track a student will attend and consists of three main steps: (1) family's school track request; (2) staff meeting's subsequent school track proposition; and (3) family's optional rejection of the staff's proposition. Using national longitudinal …
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession.…
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an importan…
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty-first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent's social class, religion, …
Investigating the Imagination of Possible and 'Like-to-Avoid' Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University
Access to and participation in higher education (HE) remains unequal, with social background continuing to influence decisions and experiences. In this paper, we undertake a proof-of-concept design to apply the theory of 'possible selves', as adapted by Harrison and published in Social Sciences (2018), to university students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 first-year students, fro…
Better than average? Parental competence beliefs and socioeconomic background
This article investigates the extent to which parents believe they are better than average parents using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The article builds on a long tradition of sociological research focusing on the interconnections between parenting, class, education and inequality. We find that mothers with low levels of education are more likely to say they are average or worse than average parents. Relatedly, we show that those who…
Relative risk aversion models
This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model tha…
A comparative perspective on social class inequalities in parental involvement in education
The goal of this paper is to extend research on parental involvement in education and its relationship to social class and inequalities. We do so by developing a new theoretical framework that helps us to better understand and explain cross-national and cross-cultural differences in how parental involvement in education differs across socio-economic groups. We propose that giving greater analytical attention to the role of institutional factors, …
Maternal Occupation-Specific Skills and Children's Cognitive Development
This article hypothesizes that maternal occupation-specific skills are associated with children's cognitive development over and above parents' other human, financial and social capital. Data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study on 13,543 children were complemented with occupation-level data (n = 79) from the British Skills Surveys on aggregate measures of mothers' occupation-specific skills (literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, verbal and physica…
Student Socioeconomic Status and Teacher-Student Perceptual Discrepancies of School Effort and Enjoyment
Congruence between teacher and student perceptions of student academic attitudes reflects positive teacher-student relationships and enables teachers to adjust to students' needs. This study investigates discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions of student's school enjoyment and effort, and whether these discrepancies are associated with student SES. It also tests one mechanism-student visibility-that may be driving the association wi…
From spreadsheets to storybooks
This study examines how the skill requirements of mothers’ occupations influence their parenting practices during early childhood. We used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of children born in 2000–2002, linked to occupation-specific skill profiles derived from the British Skills Surveys. Parenting behaviors were measured when children were ages 5 ( N = 12,892) and 7 ( N = 11,265), cap…
Socioeconomic inequalities in teacher-student relationships at age 5
Teacher-student relationship quality has been found to be important for a range of educational outcomes. It appears to be associated with student socioeconomic background, but little is known about the processes driving socioeconomic inequalities in teacher-student relationships. In this paper we draw on cultural reproduction theory to suggest three mechanisms linking student socioeconomic background with teacher-student relationship quality: stu…
Parental Involvement in Education (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (8 works) · School Choice and Performance (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Inequality (6 works) · Social class (6 works) · Cohort (5 works)