My : My Social Network

No matter what background you come from or how you were raised, family is extremely important. According to Malinowski, “Family is a necessary institution for fulfilling the task of child rearing in society”(Conley, 2013). Society has come a long way when it comes to family and it is much different than it was in the 1950’s. Not all families are nuclear families. A nuclear family is having a mother, father, and children that are all biological (Conley, 2013). This kind of family is what some would call more “traditional.” Today in the twenty first century it is getting harder and harder to find families that have actually stayed together. There are so many different kinds of families in today’s society, and more and more families are becoming blended families. A blended family is when two families come together (Conley, 2013). Many families today have single mons, single, dads, and even same sex parents. Family is not always the people that live in the same house as you, family also consists of extended family. An extended family is a network that goes beyond the main “nuclear” family (Conley,

Take for example the lives of refugees from North Korea moving to the South. The refugees seeked a better home to live in since most women were forced to be prostitutes. Although they hoped their lives would be better in South Korea, they were completely wrong. After arriving in South Korea, they noticed that the only way to survive was to have some kind of kinship or network in such a capitalist and advanced society. An outsider status was anyone who didn’t fit the “social networks and social capital required for negotiating the competitive environment” (Markus Bell, 245). Though there are strict regulations on creating any kind of relationships such as marriage, employment, and socializing. This is only if one does not integrate oneself accordingly since the North Korean aspect is different. According to many anthropologists, the link to Korean kinship is well connected to even South Africa's and the Chinese. The Korean kinship is known to be based on “local lineage” or close relationships-even ones that are not biological. There is another kind of relationship where it is not necessarily intimate, but still considered as some kind of kinship: pseudo-kinship. In a pseudo-kinship, the relationship is a “lasting emotional significance” (Bell, 246). These are in enhanced especially in areas where the environment is extremely hostile and and radical. To many people, kinships are supposed to

Ronald Davila also points to another aspect that has caused segregation is the strong belief in family ties. He explains that it is not uncommon for extended family members to live in the same household which is a break from the mainstream populations (personal communication, 2010). This is a traditional value that many attempt to hold on to despite the urbanization. It can be argued that this traditional value can be seen as segregation as it different from the mainstream and by default causes isolation from various neighborhoods.

My aunt and her 4 adult children is my immediate family. My aunt’s 4 children also have children as well, and my aunt hold most us together financially. There’s not many roles in my family, but my aunt’s son and I are important in my aunt’s stability for transportation, helping with house chores, and organizing family issues and events. My Jamaican family all are separate and do not have a strong connection. I have not spoken to them in years, so I have a disconnect to their

Family is a great deal of what being an American means to me. The family dynamics in America contrasts greatly with our western neighbors in the individuality and the family model. In America decision-making and independence are encouraged for the most part, while in other countries, children are taught that they must remain loyal to the families and tribes. Once I turned 18 years of age, I was responsible for my own medical and legal decisions. The typical family model in America includes the parents and the child, while in other family models across the world, the grandparents, aunts, and uncles are also included. In family models that include the extended families in other countries, it is not considered out of the normal for the grandparents to live under the same roof as the grandchildren. The point of it all is that in America, privacy is given both in space and in decisions.

Members of an extended family may live close to one another as a way to maintain cultural identity;

The family obligations are a built-in part of life. Each member in the family has his or her own obligations and responsibilities to associate with the other family members. “Families are considered to be the most influential context for the development of social relationships and set the stage for the development of relationships with others” (Khanh T Dinh at al. 1994). However, the family obligations are different between Asian and Western families. Specifically, Vietnamese parents teach their children to understand the complex nature of family obligation when they are little. Vietnamese people distinguish between immediate family and extended family. The Vietnamese kids are taught to respect every single one in the family including relatives

Family is family but sometimes your close friends are closer than the people you live with. So friends can be just as good as family. In the book outsiders there is a lot of evidence that is provided to prove that this is true. For instance, Ponyboy (the little brother in the curtis family, he has two brothers Darry the oldest and Sodapop the middle child) is a respectful family member with all the kids in the gang and he is like the family baby/little brother to the gang. There is a lot of good evidence and I have pulled out some of it to prove my point. Here is some of the evidence that I’m using. My evidence is johnny and dally and pony all are like brothers and can’t be separated. The live as if they had grown up together and experienced life together.

The few times we did get to spend time together as a family, it wouldn’t feel like it. I knew all the relationships between my family members. I was the one who they told everything to but ask me not to tell anyone. This was a lot of weight on my shoulders because I began caring for everyone else’s relationships; especially my mom’s because my brother and sister would argue

When I think about my childhood years, friends and neighbors always comes to my mind. Those who were the first people besides my family that I got to know, and who became my friends and family members. But in now a day, neighbors had become strangers. In the 1980s, children used to play around with their neighbors, and they would host party to gather around. As the time go by, people don’t want to meet their neighbors, so they just like to stay with their own family. Although you may know your neighbors, but you will never have a deep relationship with them. In those articles, the authors talked about how the society had been change, and the people become selfish. Currently, people in the United States are following by the social status;

I grew up in a decently sized family of four, including my father, my mother, and my older sister. Fortunately for us our parents had enough time to spend with us when we were younger and they were very strict and serious. Our other relatives normally lived far apart from each other so we don't often visit each other nor do we know each other that well. There would sometimes be some drama that goes on between them and it never ends, someone is always doing something and they never will stop talking or mentioning it. I don’t know either one of my grandparents that well either because they both live out of country and it’s difficult for them to come here for financial and welfare reasons. It makes me sad when I see or hear that other people

My family has always been very close. We spend a great deal of time together and express our deep feelings and emotions with one another. If one of us has an issue, every member of the family is aware of it and shares the burden. When a person in the family does not share significant information about one’s life with the rest of the members, there is hurt feelings. Also, if a member cannot attend a family event, the family feels disappointed and misses the absent member. It is evident that connectedness is held as extremely valuable.

Kinship can help define who we are, through the values we subscribe to, where we live, and even our political and religious beliefs. Kinship, or families, are a part of all societies, and has been said to be the most basic of all social institutions—it is how people of different cultures categorize the people they are connected to, and that has a lot of influence on a person’s life. But kinship doesn’t always equal family. I’ve heard the phrase, “she is like kin to us.” That’s because ‘kin’ is actually a synonym for ‘related.’ Fathers and sons, aunts and nieces, brothers and cousins are all examples of kinship. In American culture the question of “who are you” has become more about what kind of work you do and less about who your family is. I believe that stems from the American concept of being a self-made man—a departure from more European assessment of who you “are” based on who your ancestors were. Below is my family genealogy (or as best as I can approximate it).

As a child, I was always surrounded by family. Living in a large household and with an extended family, many of my cousins were more like siblings and many

I’ve never really known a lot about the interactions of my family, but when I was doing research for the genogram project, I noticed a few trends start to emerge. Some of the dominant behavioral patterns found in my family include practicing religion, racism, getting at least a high school education, owning a business, divorce, and cohabitation.