Abstract
The concept of emotional capital suggests that adults transfer emotion management skills to children in ways that are consequential for the social reproduction of inequalities. Using ethnographic data from a popular after-school program, this study analyzes the emotional capital transmitted to low-income black girls by staff. They passed on four aspects of emotional capital: stifling attitude, being emotionally accountable for peers, sympathizing with adult authority figures, and emotional distancing from cultural “dysfunction.” Staff intended to teach girls to manage their emotions as a way to counteract racism, but the socialization largely promoted emotional deference, thereby reinforcing racialized, classed, and gendered ideologies.
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Notes
I use the generic term “adults” to refer to both direct care staff (most of whom were black women) and white male administrators. I use the term “staff” or “workers” to refer to the staff who worked directly with girls. “GW staff” refers specifically to the all-woman staff at the Girlworks site, nearly all of whom were black.
The second primary site of observations was Boyworks, a similarly organized program for low-income black boys ages six to 12. Boyworks, with mostly black men as workers, also housed a teen program for mostly black girls and boys. Other sites had a mixture of boys and girls from various backgrounds. Their staff consisted of black, white, and Latino women and men.
Three interviewed adults have had more than one role within the organization. For example, one administrator is a former direct care worker at GW. Thus, she is reported as both a (former) direct care worker and an administrator. Analysis of her interview takes into account her dual role.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded in part by a grant from the Institute for Nonprofits, North Carolina State University, and by the Faculty Summer Research Fellowship, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Northern Iowa. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Current Research on Women Forum at the University of Northern Iowa in the fall of 2007 and at the American Sociological Association in Boston, August 2008. Thank you to Barbara J. Risman, Marybeth Stalp, Cyndi Dunn, Gayle Rhineberger-Dunn, Xavier Escandell, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback.
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Froyum, C.M. The Reproduction of Inequalities Through Emotional Capital: The Case of Socializing Low-Income Black Girls. Qual Sociol 33, 37–54 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-009-9141-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-009-9141-5