ABSTRACT
Families had to be differentiated individually by social class, however, because inevitably the correspondence between class and area of residence is not total. Some working-class parents thought that middle-class parents leave their children more readily. Comparisons tend to emphasise contrasts, so it is important to stress at the outset that there were important universalities which applied across class. This was especially true with respect to reasons for sharing care and the evaluations of group care. In spite of the class contrasts evident in non-group sharing and in the types of group used, there were no significant class differences in the primary reasons given for placing the child in group care. However, it was notable that about one third of working-class families had hoped that group care would perform some kind of training function for the child, such as making the child’s eating patterns more acceptable or teaching hygiene and self-care.
