Despite the considerable difference between Italian and American parents' values for their children, social class is related to parental values in much the same way in both countries. Middle-class parents in both Italy and the United States are more likely to value the child's self-direction, working-class parents the child's conformity to external proscription. Three aspects of occupation--the closeness of supervision to which a man is subjected; whether he works principally with things, with people, or with ideas; and the degree of self-reliance his job requires--are each related to parents' values for their children. Together they account for a large part of the difference between middle- and working-class parents' values, especially for fathers.