Applying the “New” Sociology of Childhood to Explain the Black–White Test-Score Gap

Sarah H. Matthews

doi:10.1108/S1537-4661(2011)0000014013

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Sociological Studies of Children and Youth

ISSN: 1537-4661
Series editor(s): Loretta E. Bass

Subject Area: Sociology and Public Policy

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Applying the “New” Sociology of Childhood to Explain the Black–White Test-Score Gap

Document Information:
Title:	Applying the “New” Sociology of Childhood to Explain the Black–White Test-Score Gap
Author(s):	Sarah H. Matthews
Volume:	14 Editor(s): Loretta E. Bass, David A. Kinney ISBN: 978-1-78052-074-2 eISBN: 978-1-78052-075-9
Citation:	Sarah H. Matthews (2011), Applying the “New” Sociology of Childhood to Explain the Black–White Test-Score Gap, in Loretta E. Bass, David A. Kinney (ed.) The Well-Being, Peer Cultures and Rights of Children (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Volume 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.181-202
DOI:	10.1108/S1537-4661(2011)0000014013 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	Purpose – This chapter draws on tenets of the “new” sociology of childhood, which posit that children are affected by social structures in the same way that adults are, to formulate an explanation for the black–white test-score gap. Methodology – It builds on an analysis of ethnographic fieldnotes, which recorded the experiences of early elementary school students in a racially homogeneous school in a low-income African-American neighborhood. Findings – The case is made that the children were oppressed by adults in the school. Being in school was almost a wholly negative experience for children. Students' active strategies to protect the self were ineffective, which led to their shutting down emotionally. Like adults in similar social contexts, children's energy was devoted to self-protection rather than to being a student.