I am really interested in looking at the sociology of the family structure in America. In what ways do parents raise their children? What norms and values are instilled in children? Since we come from different backgrounds, everyone should have different sets of values. I think in order to achieve a higher level of society we have to look at the different aspects of how everyone views the world. In order to do that we must not judge negatively the different styles of life but rather understand why people have gravitated towards that lifestyle. Honestly, I don't know much about all the different groups and cultures that are present in our own society, but I would like learn about them all so I can achieve a greater appreciation for what they are trying to do.
I think the nation's symbol should be a chameleon because until we can truly blend into all kinds of situations and backgrounds we are not being what an American is supposed to be. At least that is my definition of an American. Because, what are we? Americans are not white. I don't care what people say or believe. America is the land of the free, right? I didn't know I had to be white to be free. I understand that is how people view it so they can be angry in order to fight the fight for social change, but I don't think the world is so meek. I am blessed to be where I am and complaining that I'm not white won't do anything. Maybe looking at how family structures work would help understand how to build a good fundamental basis for success.
I don't know if this is all sociology, but this is one of the reasons why I chose this subject as my major. Would this make me a symbolic interactionist? I am sure as hell that I don't fully agree with conflict theorist and the world doesn't seem just run like chains and sprockets. What i'm really trying to figure out is how I can do this kind of research without bias and forming stereotypes. Studying race and culture in our society can get messy,but I think it is necessary in order to work on closing the gap between the socioeconomic elite and poor. I don't mean to be ethnocentric where I believe that there is a right group or that my culture is correct,but some things are working in everyone's cultures so we should look at those things and formulate a number of possibilities that could work in our society so eventually our society can be the model of correct ethnocentrism. Does that even make sense or do people even want that? It seems very biased to want my society's practices to be the correct practices around, but why can't there be something like that if it works and it is all correct. I am not saying society should be rigid. I actually want the opposite of that, but in all societies, there are some things that have not produced good things and those should be eliminated first. This has just turned into a ramble, but I had this on my mind. I wish my writing was better so I could portray what I wanted to say better but I guess this will have to do.
interesting post.
ReplyDeleteshows how complicated everything is.
i take my family - three kids: each one got a very different treatment, so one point of study is birth order: same family class, but different order and different time for the family.
then take the three "methods" of child rearing: they can occur up and down the class structure and across race, and even change within the same family over time, so that makes it more complicated: permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative. It is said that authoritative "works best" and tends to "go with" higher status families - but that is a generalization.
Then take religion: Catholicism produces a lot of faith in miracles and also a lot of burden of guilt. Protestantism can produce a kind of un-sacred world and rational diligence. Judaism produces a lot of family concern and family-based guilt. Aethism may produce an existentialist or a Marxist or something else--maybe a believer. I do not know what Islam produces in the family for I have not studied that and do not have much exposure - even though we all should!
Then take temperament: the temperament of the child has a lot to do with "everything". Some of us are poetic types, some are sickly, some are cautious, some are bold. That cuts across class lines - as does raw intelligence. Then take your parent's occupations. If your parent was an entrepreneur - whether he ran an ice cream truck, a detailing shop, his own factory or was a consultant, you learned a bit about how to run your own life. If your parent was a bureaucrat - whether a clerk or a director - you learned a bit about how to fit in and tow the line. Then take the different ethnic groups: If you are white now you learn about diversity and that you might be not-favored, and if you are non-white now you learn about diversity and that your parents might have been not-favored. All the groups have their stereotypes, and all the children are at some stage of breaking out of those stereotypes. Then take gender: you are either caught tightly in the stereotypes and do not know it, or you have become aware of it because someone has taught you and you are sensitive to your privileges and pitfalls and seeking balance. Then take history. Each family has a history, and you are caught in it, e.g., you might have been 13 when a divorce came and your brother was not, etc. Then each person has a history, e.g., you might have been 7 when granny died, 10 when you broke your leg and got pneumonia and stayed in bed an read books for a year, etc.
There - now you have it. Each one of us an individual in what sociologists call an "intersection" of class, race, gender and I add occupational style, birth order, temperament, and fate. Each one of us perplexed and wondering where the Guide Book is. Some of us forging ahead and writing our own Guide Books. A few fortunate enough to learn to let go.
wow thanks for the response. That was a lot of food for thought. I don't even know where I am to start, but i'm thinking now.
ReplyDeleteAre there classes on understanding temperament? It seems like a really fun subject to learn about. It might help my poker skills.
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