working-class and poor families, where children are granted autonomy to make their own way in organizations,” she writes, “in the Marshall family, most aspects of the children’s lives are subject to their mother’s ongoing scrutiny [emphasis hers].” Like which gymnastics program her daughter should attend, for instance. “The decision regarding gymnastics,” she writes, “seemed to weigh more on Ms. Marshall than on any other member of the family.” It was as if her daughter’s future depended on where she learned her back flips and cartwheels.
