Social Class and Culture


With learning about social class and culture this week, it is quite interesting to see that we do have social classes that distinguish people from each other. I believe that some people try to not think about there being a social class, but it’s hard to ignore when pictures are depicting people and what they were as well as the type of neighborhood they live in. From personal experience, my family and I may not have been as rich as other people, but we have enough to sustain us. As the youngest of five children, I am truly grateful for all that my mother has done to provide for us. Not only is the nurturer, but she was also the provider for us as well. Though as a child I did not think a lot about what must have been going through my mother’s mind but thinking back to it, I know that my mother was doing the best that she knew how. My mother has been a fine example of raising me in a culture that has brought me so many blessings. Growing up in the church at first was routine because my mother had that influence for us to go to church. However, I do remember that every week that we went to church I always had a good feeling about going. Later in my life, I had viewed both going to church and the sabbath day as a spiritual energizer. Though I loved going to school and learning during the week, the sabbath day has truly been a delightful day for me because I can feel at peace and rest from my labors. I do remember other times though that I felt limited as to what I can do on the sabbath day and could not wait for the next week to start. Looking back on this memory has made me feel guilty because I know that we should not view the sabbath day as being restrictive, but rather view it as a delight. For a while now one thing that my family and I have started doing is a family hangout through Google Hangouts to stay connected with each other. It is hard when you live so far away from family, but it is such a blessing with the technology that we have to stay connected with loved ones.

In some of the reading that we did this week for class, one of the readings that we read was a study that was done looking at Mexicans who immigrated to the United States. In this study, it was observed that when families were still living in Mexico that they tended to have strong family relationships, but upon moving to the United States, that was not the case. The father would leave for the United States to find work so that he could provide for his family while also find a way of bringing them to the U.S. They had hoped to only be gone a year and then come back to their families, but it turns out that it was not until three years later that they were able to return. During this time, their wives and children were missing their husbands and were waiting for the day that they would come back. The overall results in this study showed that Hispanic families had stronger family relationships compared to when they immigrated to the United States. The reason why they wanted to immigrate in the first place was to help their children to get ahead by having access to quality education and other opportunities.

What this study has taught me as well as my own experience is that while it is important to provide for your family, you also need to be there for them. It seems like some parents want to make more money to support their families, but they may not be spending as much time with them. I am sure that children love to have that feeling of being provided for, but one thing they value most of all is time. Children need to feel that they are loved and the best way to do that is to spend time with them and be interested in what is going on in their lives.

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