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Toward a Rearticulation of a Discourse on Class within the Practice of Parental Involvement

State University of New York at Albany

Class is essentially a person’s social position in relation to others within a cultural context. This article examines two representational approaches used in a study of parents’ perceptions of parental involvement to discuss the critical role representation plays in the production and reproduction of current discourses on class. Although these approaches both use the parents’ stories to engage the reader, one combines these into group-oriented "cultural stories" whereas the other focuses on individual-based "contextual stories." The role these two forms of narrative might play in redressing the oppressive practices that contribute to maintaining class positions within social and cultural contexts is examined. The author concludes that localized scrutiny of social practices represented through the contextual stories enables a deeper understanding of how social class identities and positions are the result of different actions and interactions shaped within a shared social practice of involvement.

Key Words: social class • representation • narrative analysis • social reproduction • parental involvement

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