cally@cuhk.edu.hk
Abstract:
Parental spending is a key mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of advantage. Popular discourse portrays Asian Americans as a “model minority” that overinvests in education, yet systematic evidence remains limited. Using Consumer Expenditure Survey data (2009–2022), I examine pre-college spending differences between Asian American and White families and how race and class shape educational investments. Asians outspend Whites overall, but patterns vary by category: Asians spend more on recreational lessons and tutoring, complicating the view that their investments are narrowly academic. The gaps are largest among graduate-educated households, not among lower-educated households where achievement gaps are most salient. I extend the analysis to housing expenditure, given its role in access to public school quality. Comparing households with and without pre-college children shows that Asian families spend more on housing when children are present, with especially pronounced gaps at the lowest and highest ends of social class.
cally@cuhk.edu.hk
Abstract:
In recent decades, asset prices have outpaced consumer goods inflation and wages in many developed and some developing economies. In turn, scholars have suggested that asset ownership, especially homeownership, is increasingly important to individual life chances in these economies relative to employment, but less is known about how the political attitudes of asset owners and non-owners have changed. Using General Social Survey data spanning 1985 to 2022, I examine changes in Americans’ attitudes toward government redistribution and voting for Republican presidential candidates by homeownership status. I find evidence for a substantial divergence in the attitudes of homeowners and non-owners over this period. This divergence is evident not only in the overall population but also among non-professional/non-managerial employees and those earning less than the median income, substantiating longstanding claims that the working class is politically fragmented by homeownership. Furthermore, attitudinal differences by homeownership status exceed those between the self-employed, managers, professionals, and non-professional/non-managerial employees in the US today.
sociology@cuhk.edu.hk
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sociology@cuhk.edu.hk
If you are interested to join the webinar, please register in advance to receive the Zoom meeting details via email.
csspfs@cuhk.edu.hk
sociology@cuhk.edu.hk
If you are interested to join the webinar, please register in advance to receive the Zoom meeting details via email.