Melvin Kohn has pointed out that middle class and working class families use different techniques and emphasize different things. In particular, research testing his hypothesis has showed that middle class families are more likely to emphasize self-direction while working class families emphasize obedience to authority. Working class families are more likely to use physical punishment as negative sanctions and money or gifts as positive sanctions to reinforce behavior. What these differences produce are differences in moral autonomy, the ability to function by deriving from principles what one's course of action should be rather than simply looking to rules and or to superiors for direction. The degree of moral autonomy, as measured on surveys, varies by social class.
Ethnicity also plays a role in what the family teaches.
Li-chen Ma and Kevin Smith tested Kohn's hypothesis in Taiwan using working and middle class Taiwanese families. Chinese cultures have a strong history of Confucianism underlying values and norms. Ma and Smith found obedience and duty to parents were about equally emphasized by both working class and middle class Taiwanese families, most likely because Confucianism emphasizes obedience. But they did find the same differences in how Taiwanese parents of the two classes rewarded and punished that Kohn had observed in U. S. families. Socialization is an on-going process.