It is popular to assume that an upper-class child would more easily reach self-fulfillment than a lower class child. However, I would strongly disagree with this statement. As a young girl who grew up in a strict upper class conservative family, I lacked of many liberties from a young age because of my social status and gender. For instance, I could not walk out of my house without a chaperon until I was twelve. I was often told to keep quiet. I was asked to display my culture and knowledge in galas and receptions, but was conversely reprimanded if I would dare to correct an adult. During my teenage years, I also had to tolerate my relatives who were awkwardly introducing me to ten years older wealthy men as a “lady to marry”. It is undeniable that I was facing limits from my parents due to the status I was labelled by. These were mostly depicted during my social interactions but also in my every day personal life. It was the case for my extracurricular activities. As my parents used to say, “A young girl from a good family should dance and play piano”. I was therefore not allowed to take martial arts and singing classes. Nevertheless, I one day finally found a “noble enough” activity I had an inclination for: theater. My parents thought it would be a prominent way to give eloquence in my speaking. They consequently agreed to let me attend acting classes. Theater has been truly freeing to me, not only it had a tremendous effect on my academic skills but moreover taught me a
In this big world, everyone’s primary goal is to “make it,” so to speak- everyone wants to be successful and have a happy life. But how do we define that? By definition, success means “the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame” or “the correct or desired result of an attempt” (Merriam-Webster). But does everyone have the opportunity to be successful? Can everyone be successful?
Now throughout my life, being the oldest son, and brother I have always felt that I needed to set the example for the rest of my family. I’ve felt that I needed to be the pillar of strength to carry my family, my parents always made me believe that if I was strong then everyone else around me would benefit. Emotionally as a child I felt shut off from the world because I would be struck/scowled for crying, or even if I’d show the slightest bit of what my parent’s called “overconfidence”, which is basically any type of trying to feel good about my accomplishments in any form. But of course I was always expected to perform at the peak and be above everyone. For this type of upbringing I was “isolated” from the rest of my peers, emotionally detached, and felt as if I was an unwanted enigma. As it says in “Mirrorings” on page 729, “I felt that I was the only one walking about in the world who understood what was really important.”
Based on which social class an individual falls into, the parenting style that they display or experience may vary. Are these differences in social classes affecting the way children in these households are brought up? If so, are these parenting styles reinforcing social class division? It is inevitable that the occupation, education, and income or wealth that an individual possesses will define their social class. This paper claims that children of different socioeconomic classes go through different socialization processes due to varying parenting styles that emerge in these distinct social classes. The parental behaviors and the social interaction between the parent and the child is linked to the social class that the family is a part
Last class we watched an informative documentary named “People like Us, Social Class in America”. America is known to be a country defined by class. Throughout the movie it showed different opinions on what class was based on by different people and the answers varied from looks, house size, career choice, race, manners, upbringing, and education. As we move through life, most times we remove ourselves from different people not in our class to then live amongst those who share similar backgrounds and who we are most comfortable with. As stated, “if there is class, there is an inequality one cannot explain and it perpetuates itself”. Revealing class can expose hope, fears, prejudice and a myriad of different emotions that we may not all be comfortable speaking about. I feel as if part two and part three were most applicable to myself because they are something that I have experienced both directly and indirectly.
The lower class consisted primarily of Native Americans, African Americans, and impoverished whites. Author, Howard Zinn revealed many examples that showed the congregation of lower class individuals, in spite of their differences “ In spite of such seventeenth century, there is evidence that where whites and blacks found themselves with common problems, common work, common enemy in their master, they behaved toward one another as equals. As one scholar of slavery, Kenneth Stampp, has put it, Negro and white servants of the seventeenth century were “remarkably unconcerned about the visible physical differences” (Zinn 68).When it came down to real talk, the lower class rose above their differences and worked together to achieve one common goal, freedom. However, the upper class knew they wouldn't be able to withhold all the power with the lower class citizens joining forces. The upperclass attempted to divide the lower class by the separation of race, sexuality, and wars and ideas of war. In between this conflict lied the middle class, who struggled to chose, as they were tempted by the upper class wealth. Although early settlers envisioned a country of liberty and equality, the upper class used their wealth and power to obstruct the lower class from achieving complete freedom, which lead to the oppression of lower class individuals.
The mega rich and the rest of us, which could be further defined as the mega poor or “proletariat” and the wanna be mega rich (can’t say I blame them) or middle class.
What role do you feel the middle and upper class should play in resolving the criminal justice problems in low-income neighborhoods? Explain and ground your answer using statistical data or published research.
According to most, even though American Dream is possible to attain, it is significantly more difficult to achieve than it is made out to be. It relies as much on luck as it does on hard work, if not more. Though there are occasions where people move up and down the social ladder, certain qualities such as race, social class, and social status can determine the opportunities that allow for social mobility.
In 1789, the French experienced a revolution by the peasants due to unfair tax practices. The wealthiest 2% of the country was not getting taxed whatsoever and the other 98% of the country, which was poor, had to support the great tax burden that had arisen due to immense spending by the government, which was for the most part controlled completely by the top 2%.
Our society is divided into many different classes in order to distinguish people by their classes. However, we also divided each level inside each classes, such as the middle class has three different classes, lower-middle class, middle-middle class, and upper-middle class. Those classes inside a class also represent some kind of social problems as a whole. Recently there has been a hot topic whether the upper middle class has great impact on the whole society. The gap between the upper middle class and the rest of the middleman has become wider and wider because of incomes, education, families, and marriages. Since the gap is widening, it creates an unbalanced social class system and brings up some side-effects which ultimately may ruin the whole country.
I simultaneously grew up poor and privileged. Although that sounds like a paradox, it was a reality given my family structure. Following a divorce when I was just a toddler, my parents became financially independent except for a small (and apparently, inconsistently available) child support payment. After spending five years as a housewife and out of the workforce, my mom struggled. She often lived paycheck to paycheck, while my dad’s job as a banker allowed him to live comfortably. The disparities caused me to grow up in two socioeconomic backgrounds: my dad’s was BMW’s and cruise ships while my mom’s was ramen noodles and frozen dinners five nights a week. As a result, I experienced multiple socioeconomic perspectives by age fourteen, and
It was rough growing up in a single parent household. I was the oldest of three boys. I did not have the best amenities that many of my peers had. While my friends played outside after school, I was in the house, reading, writing and studying. My mother emphasised the importance of education. It was torture; I did not want to study. I wanted the high end clothes, I wanted to play outside and flirt with girls. I wanted to be popular instead of being viewed as the smart guy; the kid that everyone voted as most likely to
Social class is split between many things including race, religion, income, and many other factors. Some people believe that if you are born into a poor social class you are stuck in a poor social class and this is just not the case. My father was born in Muskegon, MI to a loving christian family. This family was not rich and my father told me stories of how he would have to walk three miles to school because the bus would not come to his house and how he would have to walk on different streets to avoid danger. School did not come easily to my father but due to his hard work went to a community college. My mother on the other hand was born in the small town of Shelby, MI. My mothers parents did not go to church but were an average family when
G. William Domhoff is by trade a psychologist and sociologist and is the author of several books on the theory of power and class structure. In his book, Who rules America Now? Domhoff provides an in depth analysis of the structure of wealth and power in America. He asserts the existence of an institutional upper class in America that is able to dictate/direct the politics, economy and government by virtue of its wealth and power. I contend that Domhoff through his analysis of the wealth and power structure of the American upper class can be considered as a lay cultural theorist. This is based upon his identification of the cultural processes of the upper class - those learned shared patterns of behaviors and interactions that allow them
When I was growing up, I remember my family situation as extremely chaotic. I was one of eight children and my father and mother had little time to devote to me individually. Most of the time they spent trying to earn enough to support us with their meager resources. I was often called upon to act as a surrogate mother to my siblings. I felt I had little time to develop my own unique perspective and voice when I was very young. Even as a preschooler I remember doing chores to help out at home. However, this situation did foster some positive aspects of my character. I learned to be mature at an early age and gained a sense of competence because of my responsibilities. But I also was taught put the needs of others second to my own. I feel that I did not learn to value my own, legitimate desires to an adequate degree as a young girl and have only recently acquired a true sense of worth [THESIS].