Abstract

Research reveals that participation in social and cultural activities at a young age has positive effects on the participation in later life and the development of (cultural) competencies. Furthermore, research points at the prominent role parents fulfill in guiding their children towards cultural participation. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, Lareau identifies that this guidance is bound to social class. Mainly middle-class parents make use of the parenting-style Lareau calls ‘concerted cultivation’. In this research, Lareau’s thesis is tested in a Belgian (Flemish) context, by means of large-scale survey research. In this article, we investigate to what extent the importance parents attach to culture and the guidance of their children to participation is class-bound, and differs according to their cultural participation and gender. In the analyses, a dataset of 1.980 parents of adolescents is used. Multilevel analyses reveal that the receptive cultural participation behaviour of the parents is the strongest determinant for their parenting-style. Besides, especially the cultural components of social class (educational level, subject of study and job content characteristics) have an effect on the importance parents attach to cultural competencies in the education of children and actually guide their children towards more participation. Economic and material aspects of social class (e.g. occupational status and salary) on the contrary, only have an effect on the parents’ actual guiding behaviour (not on the importance they attach to culture). Although mothers and fathers value cultural characteristics to the same extent, we could speak of gendered cultivation, since mothers stimulate cultural participation of their children more.

How to Cite:

Beunen, S., Siongers, J. & Lievens, J., (2016) “De plaats van cultuur in de opvoeding: een studie naar het belang dat ouders hechten aan culturele competenties en participatie bij hun adolescente kinderen”, Sociologos 37(4), 356–380. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86928