The educational expectations of parents: a mechanism that reproduces social inequality

Abstract

The article considers both what educational expectations parents hold for theirchildren, as well as how parents subjectively perceive educational opportunities their children face. The paper reconstructs the meanings that the parents of St.Petersburg ascribe to the education and development of children in preschool and primary school age. The educational expectations of parents are understood as how the desired level and quality of child education is conceived and how this affects the future social and professional status of children. The article isbased on empirical research and represents the results of an analysis of educational expectations at the micro level. The author employs two accepted sociological approaches in explaining the logic of action of parents in educational questions; these are ‘economic’ and ‘cultural’ in nature. The article presents the strategies employed by parents in organizing the care and education of their children in preschool and primary school and reconstructs the logic behind the educational choices of middle and working class parents.