Personal Social And Cultural Influences: Who I Am Today

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. My family was catholic and so I was taught to pray and by the age of 13 I had all my sacraments. For most of my life I lived the downtown area of the main city where my mother and her family had also grown up. I considered myself very lucky because even though our economic security was not the best as I grew up, my mother always strived for me to receive the best education she could afford. As a result, I learned to speak English from a very young age and then French, I learned to play the guitar and also to paint. I also took embroidery and etiquette classes and so on. Because of the location where we lived, I also took advantage of many cultural interactions with people from other

Culture is defined as asocial heritage of a group; it influences how people communicate with each other. Also referred to as the cumulative deposit experience, values, customs often affected by religious beliefs, it varies from one community to the other, it is transmitted through language and arts, from one generation to the next.

One of the major obstacles for researchers in the field of Health Psychology and Aging is understanding the role of health disparities across different populations. Health disparities can be understood in terms of differences in some facet of health and well-being across different groups of people. The issue of health disparities across different populations is one that must be understood not only in the context of genetic and biological factors, but also in the context of a broader sociocultural perspective. The influence of health disparities are implied in the context of aging, but are discussed across the entire lifespan. The existence of health disparities in later life is often a product of a lifelong experience and life-course trajectory. This essay will address some of the major

During my middle childhood the pivotal influences on my development were participation in extracurricular activities and a love of reading. During middle childhood my parents enrolled me in ballet classes, various sports, and I competed in rodeos. These activities contributed to my social identity and social development. Through my extracurricular activities, I became aware of multiple aspects of my identity. For example, I knew to behave differently in my ballet classes than I might at a rodeo. I also learned to befriend and accept different types of people through my exposure to these different environments. These processes helped me to acquire appropriate social behaviors and positive group identity (Hutchison, 2013). When I was 9 years old I moved to another school, and though my parents re-enlisted me in ballet and sports, I had a difficult time fitting in. During this transition I picked up a love for reading. I thoroughly enjoyed any book assignments at school, and I was constantly asking my parents to buy more books or to take me to the library. I believe this love for reading greatly influenced my intellectual and cognitive development, as I was put into more advanced classes at my new school and did exceedingly well on tests and assignments. I scored especially well on reading tests and could read at a high school level in 5th grade. While I had positive group identity earlier in middle childhood, I believe my reading may have been excessive concerning my social

The Characteristics of my Grandparents and Parents included medical issues such as Cancer, Diabetes, Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug use, Heart Disease, Death and Abandonment through Divorce or Separation, as a result, it had skip generations and then manifested through the third generation.

Throughout my life, I have considered myself to belong to many different communities: Italian, Canadian, Catholic, etc. Being born into a bi-racial family, I have always been surrounded by different culture influences. However, the one community that has the strongest influence on my actions, views, and behavior is the African-American community.

Literature is a big part of all cultures. Society acquires a vast amount of information from what is being read. The way they are composed and the Individuals who wrote them can change the manner in which values are being seen. Every culture and race are unique in their own ways those include language, art, rituals, beliefs plus a great deal more. With all the different race and cultures in the country, it has shaped the American perception and identity. When a person of a certain ethnic background, gender, sexual preference, even religious viewpoint writes it only becomes natural for their heritage, culture, and racial influence to be present. This is what makes a piece of work

When I take the time to reflect on what social forces have impacted my life a lot comes to mind. I was born and raised in San Jose, California which is a very multicultural area with people of all ethnic backgrounds. There was a specific juncture in my life that impacted me at a very young age. When I was about 7 or 8 years old my mom took my friend Zac and I to Burger King. While we were sitting there eating and just talking about typical things a 7 or 8 year old would talk about an elderly caucasian male approached us. Now looking back on the situation it was apparent that he was either drunk or under the influence of something. He then proceeded to start throwing racial slurs at me, and started questioning us. In his words “ why a white would be friends with a black “ in a belligerent manner. He continued, so mom called the cops and he was arrested for public intoxication. At the time I was baffled as to why he would say such things, especially to a child. I now realize in his socialization period it was a social constraint for caucasians to be friends with a minority or even sit next to or converse with one. Its unfortunate that people still haven 't come to accept social change, but more importantly I was aware of how prejudice some people are at a very young age due to this instance. Social facts are aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals (Giddens, 2014, pg. 11). Being a victim of discrimination, seeing my mom and grandparents succeed, and

     Going back forty-five years is not an easy task to complete because I can’t remember some of the finer details of my childhood. I know I was born on a hot August afternoon in Birth Year at Place Of Birth in City ands State. My mother was just twenty-two at the time and was already the mother of two, I was her third child. My father was twenty-one and already a workaholic, I know because my mother would constantly remind me not to be like that. My mother and father were good parents and they tried to give us the best upbringing they could. My father was the kind of person that believed he should provide and protect his family, and he did a very good job of doing that.

What is my cultural identity? Personally, I don’t think I am completely assured on what my cultural identity is, but I can do my best on explaining it. However, I won’t get started on that yet, first I’ll explain the occasion of me learning about my identity. At almost the beginning of the year, it was announced in our English class that we would be doing an essay on our cultural identities. When my teacher announced this I thought to myself, “What in the world is a cultural identity, or even my cultural identity?” In these months, we have gotten to learn the definition of culture, and what it means to us, individually., I believe that culture means a group of people that share the same customs, way of life, and beliefs. Also, over these last couple of months we have been reading texts all about people knowing and understanding their cultural identities, meanwhile I still didn’t understand my own. All I know is that I was born on February 11, 2002, I like movies and music, and my mom is from Chile and my Dad is from Virginia. Now that didn’t feel like enough for me to write on, but then I started thinking about all of the cultural differences that my parents have had raising me as a person, and how those have all combined to make me. In my short 15 years of life, the culture clashes have sometimes affected me on my thoughts and opinions, which I’ll talk about later on. As well as how movies and music have affected my perspectives and opinions.

How does a person begin to write a narrative of their own life, relating events and ideas back to their own culture? Well, first, I’d like to give some baseline information about myself. I am a white, middle-class, educated, mid-western, Christian female athlete. I come from a traditional family with a mother, father, one brother, and two sisters. Taking those characteristics into account, I would say that I am a privileged member of society, and being privileged has been part of my culture. In addition, the largest influences on my life and worldview were my family, school, church, and the area I grew up.

As a Vietnamese, I am very proud of the values and the ethics that still remains from thousands of years ago, by the way of life of the ancient; the upbringing, and the respect that we may not have now. “Cultural identity” is what I am talking about. Every single person has a different perspective on cultural identity. Culture plays a huge role in shaping individual personality or identity. It also refers to the traditions, people around you, and religion, etc. Our background is what sets us apart from everyone else because we came from a different culture. That is why culture created; it makes you feel belonging to something. Culture determines the person we are today and in future.

Starting off on a positive note, I want to look at my personal strengths. It is easy to ring out the bad, but finding what strengths I got from my gene pool, I had to use my resources. Having a conversation with my mother, I realized that I have been pretty blessed. My family has no history of cancer. I was shocked when I thought about that. Cancer has effected millions and my whole family has been lucky this far. My family has also been blessed with longevity. My mother’s grandparents lived until their late eighties. My father’s grandparents were well into their seventies and eighties. At twenty years of age, I am still blessed with both of my grandmothers. I lost my mother’s dad when I was in seventh grade and never got to meet my father’s dad. My gene pool is also known for being self-efficient. We look at medicine as a last resort. We try to keep ourselves regulated on vitamins and medications. My family has blessed me with these traits, but not all my qualities come from my genes.

Culture is one of the major influences on our lives and social interactions; culture is associated with our characteristics of religion, societal norms of behavior; moreover, culture is always changing and the influence increases. With every religion there are traditions and cultures that are a form of art as it involves many characteristics’ of individuals and their beliefs, values, and perspective, for this reason, there are various dynamics in terms of how culture is involved and the influence of our actions, such as media, peers, family, and socializations. Culture is a factor of social environment and what is modeled to us in our early years of development.

The environment, family, and community I have grown up in has shaped me as a person. So far, I grew up in the same house all seventeen years of my life. My personality has grown and molded over the years of middle school and high school based off the lessons I have learned and the things I’ve been through.