This book examines the processes through which children effectively ‘inherit' their position in the social world.

It asks: • How does class inequality affect one of the most formative periods in human development, early childhood? • When do differences in class background manifest themselves in children's actions and attitudes? • How do class divisions intersect with racial and gender inequality to shape the way that children navigate the social world? • When do children become aware of the fact that ‘inequality’ is a key feature of their lifeworld?

Bringing together original research from France, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and the USA, this book unravels the ways in which class inequality shapes our earliest experiences of the social world. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in class and social stratification, the sociology of childhood and family, cultural sociology, sociolinguistics, child and developmental psychology, and educational science.