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022 _a0195-6744
100 _aDebs, Mira
245 _aHappiness-Oriented Parents: An Alternative Perspective on Privilege and Choosing Schools (Journal Article)
260 _aChicago
_b: University of Chicago Press
_c, February 2023
300 _a145–176p.
440 _aAmerican Journal of Education,
_vVolume 129 : Number 2, February 2023
505 _a***______{For Hard Copy, Please visit Library.}________***
520 _aAbstract:Purpose: Research on privileged parents, defined here as those with the economic, social, and educational resources to navigate school choice processes to their advantage, often depicts such parents as anxious about maintaining social mobility, leading them to “opportunity hoard” desirable or academically competitive schools in ways that exclude other families. In contrast, we identify a subset of privileged parents in urban settings that we term “happiness-oriented parents” who seek schools that prioritize their child’s social-emotional happiness. Research Methods: Using a qualitative meta-analysis combining seven studies conducted by the authors in New York City; Hartford, Connecticut; and a small East Coast city between 2012 and 2021, we reanalyzed interview data from semistructured interviews with 106 privileged parents who have the ability to access and navigate a range of school choice options. Findings: We found a happiness orientation in a diverse group of privileged parents (40% identified as Black, Latinx, Asian American, or multiracial, and the remaining 60% were white). Although these parents were choosing a range of school options in different contexts and they identified different criteria as important to cultivating happiness, they consistently (1) centered happiness, (2) chose for social-emotional and noncompetitive academic factors, and (3) saw this choice as different from the norm. Implications: In identifying this repeated but understudied phenomenon, we consider that happiness-oriented parents’ choices might affect a range of education policy changes and outcomes. In the case of our studies, we examine the potential of these parents as allies in school integration efforts.
650 _aHappiness--Oriented--Parents | Choosing--School | Poverty
700 _aKafka, Judith | Makris, Molly Vollman | Roda, Allison
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723066
942 _cPER
999 _c45065
_d45064