Wife Swap, Class, and Cultural Capital

10/24/2010

Tags: class, inequality, theory, cultural capital, child-rearing, concerted cultivation, 06 to 10 mins
Year: 2009
Length: 10:00
Access: YouTube

Summary: Wife Swap is a popular television show in which the wives/mothers of two families switch households, usually creating conflict in the clash between two very different families and their backgrounds/experiences. In this clip (an excerpt from season 5, episode 11), a mother from a blue-collar family (with 4 boys) who love to have fun (mainly through paintball) switches place with a mother from a professional, international family (with 2 children) that emphasizes health consciousness, environmental consciousness, education, and cultural awareness. It is a good accompaniment to discussions about social class and Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of types of cultural capital. Also good for demonstrating the child-rearing strategies (“concerted cultivation” and “accomplishment of natural growth”) found in Annette Lareau’s work in Unequal Childhoods.

Submitted By: Anya Galli

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Anya Galli

10/24/2010 04:25:28 am

Possible activity surrounding the video: Have students create lists of the signifiers of cultural capital and class that are presented for each family while watching the clip. Afterward, have students discuss their observations. This is a great chance to discuss conspicuous consumption, social location, prestige, etc. Then, ask students which social class they think each family belongs to (they will probably disagree) and what reasons they have for choosing that class label.

From the introduction to the episode: "The Longs from Missouri are a patriotic, all-American family who live for paint ball. Wife Gayla (37) is just one of the boys on the paint ball field, but at home she is happy to take care of all the household chores, which husband Alan has deemed "skirt work." When Alan (38) is not wreaking havoc with his four wild and crazy boys -- Cody (15), Coltan (10), Clayton (8) and Cameron (4) -- he serves as the mayor of their 55-person town. The Longs are proud of their Midwestern roots and consider their lifestyle the "American way." Corn dogs and fast food are staples in their home, and their exercise comes from riding ATVs. Alan and Gayla want their kids to have fun; education and the environment can take a backseat. Meanwhile, the Stephens-Fowler family from Northern California consider themselves "citizens of the world." They strive for excellence in both mind and body. Life coach and certified weight-loss hypnotherapist Rene (43) and British-born environmental entrepreneur Stephen (49) raise their children, Juliette (11) and James (8), to be both health and environmentally conscious. With a diet of strictly organic food and weekends spent doing "family fitness activities," the kids admit they can't remember the last time they had a French fry. Domestics are taken care of by a housekeeper, as that is regarded as a necessity in the Stephens-Fowler set. In order to ensure acceptance to an Ivy League school, they push their kids to excel in highbrow activities such as music, fencing and speaking foreign languages. Both children attend a bilingual school and have already visited over 12 countries."

Paul Dean

2/10/2011 06:25:04 am

I used this video to illustrate Annette Lareau's work on how cultural practices of child rearing vary by social class. The Stephens-Fowlers are middle-class because they have advanced educational degrees and professional occupations, whereas the Logns are working-class because they have no college education and blue-collar occupations. The Stephens-Fowler family practices “concerted cultivation,” where parents actively foster and assess children’s talents, opinions, and skills. Their children spend less time with family but learn teamwork, how to interact with adults, and gain new types of cultural knowledge (about sports, music, etc). Their family pays $40,000 per year to send their children to a private school, "grooming them to be elite, highly educated citizens of the world." Their language use is extensive (with the Long mother noting the words they use are "too big"), and they play an active role in their children's institutional involvement.

On the other hand, the Long family practices the strategy of “accomplishment of natural growth,” where parents care for children and allow them to grow “naturally” and at their own pace. They spend all their free time with their family, having fun playing paintball. While they encourage their son to win a paintball scholarship, such opportunities are highly limited. Finally, they have a more limited use of language (with the mother having difficult with bigger words), and no apparent involvement in their children's institutional activities. It is clear that both child-rearing practices have their advantages and disadvantages, but by showing these differences, the video suggests how they can reproduce class inequality. Specifically, the advantages of “concerted cultivation” are more easily translated into skills and credentials that allow them to get ahead economically (education, skills, cultural knowledge, life experiences), suggesting that the Stephens-Fowler children will be more likely than the Long children to rise into middle class positions. This illustrates Lareau's work by documenting how child-rearing practices are linked to social structure, and not just the random choices of individuals.

While this video is a great illustration of these cultural practices, I also note several concerns about the video. As part of a "reality show," this video was clearly designed to attract viewers by depicting outrageous and extreme examples. Viewers should be careful of the blatant stereotypes reproduced about rural working class and educated urban middle class families. The dialogue for the video is very confrontational and judgmental, and may not necessarily reflect how people actually talk to each other. Students and I note that while it claims to be a "reality show," it is likely that parts of the dialogue were scripted (note that after a husband's answer, he asks "was that snotty enough?").

Anne Groggel

3/1/2016 07:15:15 pm

Does anyone still have active link for the clip?

Jen

2/27/2018 10:39:00 am

As of Feb 2018 this clip isn't available, sadly!

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Wife Swap, Class, and Cultural Capital

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