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Sociological Portrait Research Paper

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My Sociological Portrait

For my sociological portrait I have decided to discuss the institution of family and the way it has affected my identity. Family is an important part of how our adult identities are shaped. If we are lucky to have them in our lives, we learn so much from our parents when we are young, and as much as some of don’t want to admit it, they are a very large part of influencing who we will be in our adult lives. The concept of family as a driving force and social institution is interesting because it has the ability to effect of positively or negatively for the rest of our lives and it has the power to shape all of our future relationships and actions. My family of origin began as my mother, father, two older brothers …show more content…

Race is the system of classifying individuals who share a common descent based on their physical characteristics, whereas ethnicity is the system of classifying those who share cultural similarities. Today, race has become a broad term. There are many more interracial families than there were years ago, and there are many children of these families identifying as multicultural. With “white” not being the dominant race anymore, this drives home the fact that race and ethnicity are more important to individuals that it has ever been. Social mobility is the similar or different economic positions that parents and children share when they reach adulthood. The major factors of social mobility are labor markets, government, and families. The higher the inequality of these factors, the lower the mobility. The figure below shows the relationship between inequality and mobility in different …show more content…

I always thought that the lack of opportunities I had were what was holding me back my entire life. I realize that there was a strong lack of communication amongst family members. We didn’t always know where we stood in the group, but there was a strong foundation laid by my mother that hard work will get you to where you need to be whether you are rich, poor, black, white, male, or female. It took me 37 years and this class to come to the understanding that there are certain social forces and factors that come into play during our lives, but ultimately we are in control of the outcomes and how we present ourselves to

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