The times have changed now compared to how life used to be a few decades ago. Family structure and class has been modified as the years have gone by. We encounter mixed families more and more now that the economy has changed drastically and you no longer are able to buy a house or even obtain a job so easily due to the fact that the economy has made it more difficult for us to live comfortably. We have to obtain high school diplomas and go to college to try and better ourselves for the future so we may one day own our own house or even have the career of our dreams just so we can live the way we want to. Class plays a major factor because it may either help us or be used against us. When it comes to the economy, education and our family structure, …show more content…
When I think of the 50s, I also wish I lived in those times but I forget that class and race was a big issue and not many accepted you if you were not white. The lower class was made up of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and majority of middle and upper class consisted of whites. Growing up as a Hispanic woman, culture is the main focus and we always have to be there for our families which includes helping them out financially and socially. Today I do not take my culture into consideration as much as when I was a younger. I live my life, follow my own beliefs and choose to better myself regardless of what my culture is. Culture holds you back because you have to follow certain rules that may limit you to your success. I think class is more important since society looks at you based on your class status. Everyone judges another human being by looking at them and trying to figure out if they come from low income families or not. Gerstel and Sarkisian say “we find that social class rather than culture is the key to understanding the differences in extended family ties and behaviors between Whites and ethnic minorities.” (Gerstel and Sakisian 47). Minorities most of the time help their family no matter what because that is how we grew up, watching our parents, uncles, aunts, and grandparents whenever they needed something. Many grow up to be spoiled and …show more content…
In minority families, many grandparents or parents would rather their kin go off and work hard to help support the family and take care of them instead of encouraging them to go to college and get a degree. Now you need a diploma or GED to obtain a minimum paying job and if you want a career that pays well, you need to go to college to gain a college certificate. Parents might think that their child going away to college is a form of them not wanting to help the family out and deem them selfish. Middle and higher-class people most of the time would rather help themselves before they agree to stay at home instead of continuing their education. The flaw in this is that by holding someone back from furthering their education, most will be miserable, feel stuck and unhappy with their lives. When you think of culture, class and family, you think of the persons ethnicity, how they were raised, do they have good moral values but no one ever just excepts them for who they are and applaud them for trying to come into the light and better themselves. We quickly judge them by their appearance and location. Class effects what we do in life, how we are raised and it either encourages us to grow and continue our education in order to live the life we could not as a child or it can discourage us. So many children give up on education and resort to other means of making money like selling drugs and stealing.
social class can be hard to define. There is low status consistency which means have important jobs, but make moderate income. Social class can change during a person’s lifetime. It will either go up or down, but most of the time it stays the same. Social class can have effects on health, political attitudes, and prison rates.
The largest if not only factor of class is wealth; how much income a family gets. To disprove the myths many more realities are listed. The first being, “There are enormous differences in economic status of American citizens. ”(334). Perhaps the most important reality states, “From cradle to grave, class standing has a significant impact on our chances of survival.
Class is a social system of hierarchy based on economic wealth. Joseph O. Jewell, author of Race, Social Reform, and the Making of a Middle Class: The American Missionary Association and Black Atlanta, 1870-1900, explains class as to “exist in large part as cultures-shared set of rules, ideologies, or
In the article, The Resegregation of Jefferson County, a wide variety of different sociological aspects are portrayed under the fight to separate the school, Gardendale, from the rest of the Jefferson County school system. Multiple different inequalities are discussed in different forms throughout this article specifically including income, institutional racism, and neo-racism. All of these forms of social stratification are still alive today. Social stratification is described as “inequalities among individuals and groups within human societies. (Giddens, Duneier, Applebaum, Carr, p. 194)”
In James W. Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” he states that social class affects the way children are raised. He discusses the inequality in today’s society and how the textbooks in high school do not give any social class information. The students in today’s time are not taught everything they should be taught. He states that your family’s wealth is what makes up your future. Loewen discusses that people with more money can study for the SATs more productively and get a better score than someone who has less money.
I had an opportunity to watch a movie “People like us” in my class last week. This movie has great impact, which reflects the images of different types of society. It focuses side by side on different social classes by describing their economical social status in society. In our society, most of we Americans do not think about how education, income, aspirations, family backgrounds, and the appearances distinguish someone as an individual of a certain class of society? A particular class is very difficult to mark than race or ethnicity difference.
Being born into a particular family determines how well off you are. Class in America determines the people that influence you, and the better opportunities you are exposed to. In Gregory Mantsios writing of “Class in America” you can understand the many differences between class and how one might have better success. Mantsios shows three profiles of three different people born into different classes. One of the profiles shows how the lifestyle might be born into a wealthy family.
The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.
Within social mobility, many people fail to have a sense of the realization of the American Dream because of the fewer advantages and more problems minorities have to struggle through. Therefore, our social class affects our ability to realize the American Dream because we face challenges to make ends meet, intersectionality and education because of high status.
Parents play a big role in their child’s lives because they provide a sense of direction for them. It is natural for a child to look up to his/her mom or dad. If a young adult doesn’t have the help from their parents who have already experienced college then they are already behind the kids who are able to use their parents as a resource. A quote by Nijay Williams in the article says, “My mom stopped school in the ninth grade; my dad stopped in the fourth grade … It makes it harder for me, [and] most of the people I graduated with are not in college, but that’s what I see myself doing; I want to go to college.
Anyon article discussed students of different social class background is exposed to different types of educational knowledge. Anyon used four distinctive schools; working class, middle class, affluent and executive, located in New Jersey. The education the students received reflected the social class level. In the working class school, the principle had did not know the history of the school building. The teachers did not motive or believe in their student’s success.
A major issue in America today is poverty. However not much is being done to help those in need. Many who struggle in poverty are those who struggle getting the basic necessities we need in the everyday life such as food, clothes, water, and shelter. Different factors that can contribute to poverty are lack of education, unemployment, poor economy, race/origin, non-effective policies, and illness/disease; therefore more help should be made towards helping those in need. One of the factors that contributes to poverty is lack of education.
America is the land of opportunity with many different career choices and educational experiences for anyone despite their different social classes. Although defined by social classes, I believe people can choose to progress from the social class they are born into. In order to fulfill the “American Dream,” someone must work hard, have courage, and determination, then they can prosper and achieve success. Stated simply, Ben Carson said, “Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams.” No matter what social class a person comes from, they can overcome any obstacle in their lives as long as they set their mind to
They think that for that technology have the ferules and there are a lot of education inequalities. Also, family background influences cultural knowledge and perceptions. Middle class knowledge of norms and customs allows students with this background to better navigate the school system. Parents from this class and above also have social networks that prove to be more beneficial than networks based in lower classes. These connections may help students gain access to the right schools, activities, etc additionally, children from poorer families, who are often minorities, come from families that distrust institutions.
These students have families that they need to support with better jobs, and in order to achieve those better jobs, the older students need to go back to school to earn the degrees that the jobs require. It is much easier said than done however. These older students who are trying to integrate back to school so they can help their families are unable to receive the job they need since the charge of the school is out of their reach. It is even harder for parents of new graduates to pay for college. The prices of schools in states “have skyrocketed in the last five years” (Citation).