`` Real Women Have Curves ' : An Individual 's Pursuit Of The American Dream

There is an overarching theme of inequality woven throughout Lareau’s study, Unequal Childhoods: class, race, and family life. The book investigates and compares the daily lives of middle class, lower class and working class families’. Using observations from two elementary schools, interviews with students and parents, and the observation of twelve homes, Lareau studies how parenting and childhood differ by social class. Concerted Cultivation is prominent in the middle-class homes, where their parents, often affecting their lives as well, organize children’s activities. Followed by Natural Growth, which focuses on children’s basic needs and offers children less supervision over their daily activities.

The book Unequal Childhoods describes observations made by Annette Lareau to shed light on the significance of social class and how it affects student’s learning. Lareau presents her observations by highlighting the two dominant ways of parenting that ultimately affect how successful students become as they transition into adulthood. These styles of parenting consist of Concerted Cultivation where parents put through kids through structured activities, and Accomplishment of Natural Growth where unrestrictive freedom and directives are exercised (20-22).

Common stereotypes about women in the Mexican-American culture include that women are uneducated, good housewives, and very fertile. Many parents still believe it’s the woman’s job to stay home and be the homemaker. The concept of gender, which is socially constructed, is reinforced since birth. (Sociology Lecture 08/24/2015) Ana was caught in the middle of gender politics. Her mother oppressed her daughter so she can become a grandmother. The film “Real Women Have Curves” deals with gender stereotypes and struggles of poor women living in East LA. Carmen was trying to have Ana chained to the notion of women being inferior to men. Carmen believed men to be superior, whereas Ana thought differently. However Ana strived to liberate herself from traditional cultural norms by pursuing her college education. Her mother’s negative influence only caused Ana to rebel.

After World War II, America had to take a step back and take a look at their country. The American Dream had been restored upon the atrocities of the war. In the 1930’s the American Dream was primarily focused on working hard, men providing for their families, and trying to rise from the depression. In the 1940’s, post World War II things changed and consumerism and feminism began to play a key role along with many other factors. There are many ways to describe the American dream and what aspects were influential to it, such as World War II, modernism, new technology and entertainment.

Accordint to the author Gonzalez-Mena, “The Status—that is, the family’s position in society—affects socialization and can in turn affect expectations as well as where children find themselves” (p.126). That is, children socialization is greatly affected by the status of the family due to, the different expectation between children belonging to rich families and that children living in poverty.

In the study Lareau conducted, it can be see that working class and poor families differ slightly in that being poor means less resources and a means of a greater struggle for the child. The similarities found explain why being lower class has it benefits in some areas then if you were middle or upper class. Now Lareau is not telling people to raise their children one way or that being rich is better because even the rich have many disadvantages their children encounter. Lareau emphasizes, “Overall, daily life for working-class and poor children is slower paced, less pressured, and less structured than for their middle- and

These unwritten rules apply to women, immigrants, and those who are not born into wealth, so generally, most of the U.S. population are subjected to this false promise called the American Dream. Women are expected to model themselves after other prominent females, “the loveliest heroines were those who died young, like Beth

Over time, The American Dream has changed in an innumerable amount of ways. Past civilizations have laid the foundation for what we view it to be today. In the 1970s, people looked at a variety of aspects such as culture, political affairs (government), one’s appearance, and entertainment to fit their definition of “The American Dream”. The 1970’s helped shape and influence what people regard as the current American Dream.

Exploring the nuances of race and social position beginning in childhood and culminating in adulthood Lareau explores different approaches exercised by parents in raising children. Separating families into three categories, including: middle-class, working-class, and poor, the author began her study. Attempting to answer the question, “What is the outcome of these different philosophies and approaches to child rearing?” Lareau discovers that the answer was found in the “transmission of differential advantages” (Lareau 2011:5). Accordingly, these advantages equip children with tools to navigate through life progressively or prohibitively respective to the individual instruction obtained in childhood. In unearthing these discoveries, the author employed the use of ethnography through naturalistic observation utilizing field notes and taped recordings of interviews with family members.

In the ethnographic study, Lareau’s main argument is that different social classes can greatly impact the way a child will be raised. Lareau and her assistants conducted an ethnographic research of twelve families from a

In the film, Real Women Have Curves portrays the theme that the American Dream is achievable, but greatly hindered to obtain it. Ana Garcia continuously faces obstacles such as not having equal opportunities to partake in extracurricular activities, a quality education institution, and the continuous struggle between her mother 's traditions and the modern world 's definition of a women. Ultimately, she successfully passed through these hindrances and achieved it. The American Dream is the ideal goal every person wants to obtain, but certain obstacles prevent them from continuing to complete their goals.

The American dream is an ideology, a vision that’s form varies from individual to individual, based upon one’s own experiences. Although the one thing that remains constant in every single definition is that this ideology, just as the name states, is only a dream. It is meant to merely drive people to unlock their hidden potential and become their best self, for the sole purpose of living one’s out one’s own definition of success. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is Jay Gatsby’s inspiration and his opportunity, however, as the book progresses it becomes more evident that not all people share the same opportunity.

All families want their children to be happy, healthy, and grow. Social classes make a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. In Annette Lareau book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she promotes middle class parents as concerted cultivation. Middle class parents encourage their children’s talents, opinions, and skills. For example, engaging their children in organized activities and closely monitoring children’s experiences in school. According to Lareau, middle class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement through this pattern of converted cultivation. This causes a focus on children’s individual development. There are signs that the middle class children gain advantages from the experience of concerted cultivation. However, the working class and poor children do not gain this advantage.

The “American Dream” differs for each member of the Younger family. For Mama, the “American Dream” is simply giving a better life to her kids. She has come to realize that the only real success in her life can come from her family, and she would do anything for them. On the other hand, Walter's dreams were constructed around the idea that he is a failure. He is married and has a child, yet he still resides with his mother. Walter wanted to be wealthy. He thought becoming rich would prove to everyone and himself that he is not a lost cause. However, after his dream of being rich blows up in his face, he discovers that his American dream revolves around self-respect and family. Meanwhile, Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. She saw it as the

Social class is a defining characteristic of all people. It is a multidimensional descriptor with factors that hold relative to the economic, social, political, and cultural resources of society. The resources used to gain advantages in society are called cultural capital. In this manner then, does social class affect how children are raised? Does social class also affect children’s interactions with authority figures? In Annette Lareau’s study “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families,” collected data showed that social class does in fact affect the approaches by which parents raise their children and guide them in their interactions with institutions and authorities. She found that middle class parents aim to explore their children’s talents by involving them in organized activities. Middle class parents also are more likely to encourage discussion and invoke reasoning when determining punishments, causing their children to adopt a sense of entitlement early on. Working class parents provide an environment for children to grow, but rely on the children to create their own activities. Lareau also found that race matters much less than social class in terms of childrearing approaches. In this paper, the results of a similar study to Lareau’s confirm her results and build upon the conclusions put forth in her original piece.