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Social Locations In Sandra Cisneros's The House On Mango Street

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“Social location” is a term used by sociologists to describe where it is on the social ladder a specific person sits; social location is determined by that individual’s various demographic variables. In the book, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros uses a series of short stories to describe to the readers the main character, Esperanza’s, social location and how her unique location shapes her childhood experience.
First off, it is necessary to discuss further exactly what is meant by a person’s social location. Social location does not literally mean a longitudinal/latitudinal, geographic location on the Earth, however, that type of location could be an indicator of a person’s social location. Instead, social location means descriptors of a person and how those descriptors make up that individual’s personal life-story. Thus, social location utilizes certain demographics about a person, like race, age, gender, religion, familial life, and socioeconomic class. These demographics help to explain where a person finds their “fit” in society; for example, a person’s social location can explain the reasoning behind where it is that individual lives based off of socioeconomic class, or social location can explain why that person goes to a specific school based off of, in segregated times, the demographic of race. Social location thus helps to explain or make meaning out of why events take place in a person’s life, stereotypical expectations placed on an individual or a group,

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