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Critical Social Policy
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Childcare, choice and social class: Caring for young children in the UK

Carol Vincent

Institute of Education, University of London, UK, c.vincent{at}ioe.ac.uk

Annette Braun

Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Stephen J . Ball

Institute of Education, University of London, UK

This paper draws on the results of two qualitative research projects examining parental engagements with the childcare market in the UK. Both projects are located in the same two London localities. One project focuses on professional middle class parents, and the other on working class families, and we discuss the key importance of social class in shaping parents' differential engagement with the childcare market, and their understandings of the role childcare plays in their children's lives. We identify and discuss the different `circuits' of care available to and used by families living physically close to each other, but in social class terms living in different worlds. We also consider parents' relationships with carers, and their social networks. We conclude that, in order to fully understand childcare policies and practices and families' experiences of care, an analysis which encompasses social class and the workings of the childcare market is needed.

Key Words: capitals • family • middle class • parenting • working class

Critical Social Policy, Vol. 28, No. 1, 5-26 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0261018307085505
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