The Technology, Learning, and Aspirational Environments of Working-Class Children

Hightower, Brianna

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-9rdg-1935

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The Technology, Learning, and Aspirational Environments of Working-Class Children

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The experiences and environments of working-class children vary dramatically from their more affluent peers. I update Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) ecological systems theory to account for the technology children interact with and child social class, using Lareau’s (2003) frameworks that establish class differences in parenting practices. I position child technology devices at the center of ecological system as an extension of the child. In contrast, technology devices that children have less control over, such as those they use at school, exist within a child’s microsystem and are influenced by the child’s mesosystem. To understand how working-class children situate technology in their lives and to uncover if racial differences existed within their shared social class, I conducted 33 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Black and White children in a shared working-class community. The children attended two elementary schools within one school district, with the student body compositions being racially divided. The findings contextualize how technology is situated in the primary environments of elementary-school aged children, their homes and schools, and how they do or do not view technology being integral to their occupational aspirations. Working-class families were largely permissive of their children’s home media use and Black families experience more interruptions in connectivity than White families. The two schools, which share a 1:1 iPad initiative, structure school-use of technology differently and have differential expectations in what digital assignments children can complete at home. I document working-class children’s perceptions of their parents’ occupations to inform how parents’ experiences shape and influence the child formation of their own occupational aspirations. My research centralizes a community that is often neglected in research exploring how children use media and technology in their lives. I highlight how these children’s lived experiences differs from the dominant narrative perpetuated in ongoing research.

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