Transition Narratives, Priming Events and Reproductive Processes in Lives of Black Families Living in Poverty

Abstract

This paper reports on a three-year ethnography of nine Black families living in poverty. Viewing socialization as a process of interpretative reproduction, the paper examines the language and communicative styles in various local cultures in which the families are embedded. These communicative styles are crucial for understanding routine activities in which parents and children confront the demanding socio-economic structures and circumstances of their daily lives. Micro-analyses of in-depth interviews and naturally occurring interaction in the home, community, and schools generates detailed narratives of the young children's transitions from the family into the school and the wider community.