Gay Parents, Games Lessons and Gambling with the Future

Abstract

This chapter seeks to highlight the gap between studies on the reproduction of class privileges in heterosexual families (Ball, 2003; Devine, 2004) against quite different, often unclassed, notions of social capital in lesbian and gay families; combining a Bourdieusian notion of social capital with that of Weeks et al. (2001). Weeks et al. (2001) explore experiences of self-invention and well-being in ‘non-heterosexual’ families. They deploy the notion of social capital to highlight strategies of networking and community building whereby locally embedded constructions of capital compound familial resources. The ability to relocate to ‘friendly’, ‘diverse’ spaces with ‘sympathetic’ schools and supportive social networks is nonetheless affected by material inequalities. The overt optimism of Weeks et al.’s account glosses over potential exclusion and the classed shaping of inclusions.