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Introduction

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Class, Culture and Belonging in Rural Childhoods

Part of the book series: Perspectives on Children and Young People ((PCYP,volume 7))

Abstract

‘My mum doesn’t want me to go to Mary’s College and everything’, Nicola relays over a cheese sandwich outside her classroom. ‘Cause they’re private and they’re lots of money.’ We’re sitting on a bench in a shaded section of her school playground with our backs against one of the school’s red brick buildings. Other students run past, laugh, fall, joke, play, stop by for a chat, run off again.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This term is not specific to Riverstone but had racial overtones within this particular region. I cannot speak empirically to its use in other Australian contexts.

  2. 2.

    For example, research based on children’s self-reporting in the U.K. shows that severe or persistent income poverty or material deprivation that is associated with some aspects of exclusion by some children has different associations among others (Adelman et al. 2003; UNICEF 2011).

  3. 3.

    The Australian government classifies regions into 5 areas according to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification—Remoteness Areas (ASGC-RA 2006) systems: Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote, and Very Remote, http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/content/ra-intro.

  4. 4.

    Referred to problematically as an ‘under class’ in some literature. For a critique of this term see Marshall et al. (1996) and Chap. 6.

  5. 5.

    Age bracketing is relevant here. Researchers emphasize that children become more aware of inequality as they approach secondary school (e.g. UNICEF 2011). However, primary school aged children in Australia are deeply cognisant of inequality due to, among other factors, media, immersion in social media from a very young age, and a prolific consumer culture. Nor do children strictly abide by age lines, particularly in small schools where schoolkids frequently socialise across grades and ages.

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  1. Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Rose Butler

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Butler, R. (2019). Introduction. In: Class, Culture and Belonging in Rural Childhoods. Perspectives on Children and Young People, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1102-4_1

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