Continuing Social Constraints in Education Agency: The School Choices and Experiences of Middle- Class African American Families in Albany, NY

Paul Knudson

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.17.1.10

Authors

Paul Knudson Methodist University, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3049-430X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.17.1.10

Keywords:

Urban Education, Families and Schools, Race, Social Class, School Choice

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of middle-class African American parents who have enrolled their children in a central-city public school district and the factors that inform and contribute to their school enrollment decisions. Data come from nineteen in-depth interviews with middle-class African American parents in Albany, New York. The paper uses the conceptual framework of empowerment and agency to explore and analyze the findings. Findings suggest that middle-class African American parents possess some measure of empowerment based on their human capital and positive childhood experiences in public schools. The latter denotes the salience of emotions in intergenerational education transmission. Parents’ empowerment, however, does not fully extend to agency. Most parents’ school choices have been structured and narrowed by racial segregation in residence and by the real and perceived racial exclusion in private school settings. Therefore, even for highly-educated, middle-income African Americans, anxieties over racial exclusion act as a strong social constraint on parents’ community and school choices.

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Author Biography

Paul Knudson, Methodist University, USA

Paul Knudson is an Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Methodist University. His research focuses on urban and metropolitan affairs, urban schools and families, and race and ethnic relations. Previous articles have been published in City & Community, State and Local Government Review, Humanity & Society, American Journal of Qualitative Research, and others. A new project will focus on gentrification in Raleigh, NC.

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