Journal Article 4.1: Banks, P. A. (2011). Culture socialization in black middle-class families. Cultural Sociology, 6(1), 61–73. doi:10.1177/1749975511427646
Abstract: While cultural capital is broadly documented as an important mechanism of class reproduction, there is less understanding of cultural capital within black middle-class families. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by exploring how black middle-class parents approach their children’s socialization in the fine arts. Drawing on in-depth interviews with black middle-class parents, I develop a conceptual framework outlining how such parents adopt a concerted cultivation approach to their children’s socialization in visual art. I outline how rather than leaving their children’s artistic tastes and preferences to develop without their intervention, some black middle-class parents actively nurture their children’s appreciation and understanding of fine art by arranging for them to attend exhibitions and activities at arts organizations, and by involving them in art collecting. By elaborating how black middle-class parents socialize their children in fine art, this paper contributes to a richer understanding of cultural capital within black middle-class families, and highlights how Pierre Bourdieu’s research on cultural capital is relevant for a minority middle-class group.
Learning Objective: 4.3: Defend the position that groups at each level in our social world have a stake in how we are socialized.
Summary: Banks examines how the cultural capital associated with fine art impacts the ways Black middle-class parents socialize their children.

Journal Article 4.2: Reeves, A. (2015). “Music’s a family thing”: Cultural socialisation and parental transference. Cultural Sociology, 9(4), 61–73. doi:10.1177/1749975515576941
Abstract: While parental encouragement or parent-led consumption transmits cultural practices from parents to children, the reasons parents provide regarding why they encourage cultural engagement remains unclear. Using music as a case study, and through analyzing semi-structured interviews, this research explores how parents express and actualize their desire for their children to learn to play a musical instrument. Results suggest that respondents do not strongly associate musical practice with developing valued character traits nor with social or educational attainment. Instead, parental encouragement to play music is shaped by family ties and the parental perception of “natural” talent in their children. Parental perception of natural talent is most common among parents who themselves play an instrument and among those parents who play music with their children. Family and musicality are the most commonly cited reasons for encouraging music and these are found among all educational groups. Without dismissing the importance of social position, this evidence suggests that parents articulate their preferences toward musical participation in terms of familial cohesion and shared identity.
Learning Objective: 4.5: Explain how micro- and meso-level agents of socialization influence individuals.
Summary: In this article, Reeves examines family (a major agent of socialization) to determine some of the factors that go into a parent’s desire for their child to learn a musical instrument.

Journal Article 4.3: Malcom, N. L. (2016, July 26).“Shaking it off” and “toughing it out”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(5), 495–525. doi:10.1177/0891241605283571
Abstract: Ignoring injuries and playing through pain are expected in organized sports. But how do novice athletes learn these social norms? Using participant-observation research focusing on adolescent girls who participated in recreational softball, this study reveals how the clash of norms between traditional femininity and the sport ethic sheds light on the socialization process. In addition to shaking off their own injuries, coaches ignored the girls’ complaints, made jokes when the girls experienced some pain, and told them directly to shake off their minor injuries. Even though many of the girls entered the activity with traditionally feminine attitudes toward pain, most conformed to the norms of the sport ethic and learned to deal with pain and injuries by “shaking them off” and “toughing them out.” Those girls who were more enthusiastic about playing softball and who displayed stronger commitments to the softball-player identity were more likely to display these norms.
Learning Objective: 4.5: Explain how micro- and meso-level agents of socialization influence individuals.
Summary: Using participant-observation research focusing on adolescent girls who participated in recreational softball, this study reveals how the clash of norms between traditional femininity and the sport ethic sheds light on the socialization process.