The social institution I have chosen to address is that of family. An individual’s family life, both past and present, can have such a big impact on a person’s life in both a positive and negative manner. It is how we as individuals chose to handle life changing situations that will shape our lives and those around us. Family is such a fascinating social institution to study because every individual comes from a different family background or has a different experience than that of a sibling. You can learn so many things about a person by looking into their family background, origin and what type of up brining they had. My family experiences has shaped who I am today and has given me the base for my strengths and has also shaped what I would say are my weaknesses. Being raised in a low-income working class family we had many struggles to face as I was growing up. There were …show more content…
I always assumed I would do the same, but after seeing my parents’ marriage fall apart and my Mom struggling with the new change in her life and feeling as if she was lost and had no skills to get a job and provide for herself, she felt as if she had lost everything. I did not want that. Luckily, my brother and I were pretty much all grown and headed out on our own. Seeing how my Mom struggled with no education and no job experience I made sure I did not follow in her footsteps by working at an early age and getting my Cosmetologists license. All of the experiences I had up until this date have made into the person I am today. I am very good at appearing confident, and in some area of life I am. I have extreme compassion for those who cannot help themselves and those that struggle to fit in. By finishing my degree in Human Services I will be able to do just that, and in the meantime find peace and move on from own
Sociologists view the family as a universal institution that is central to social life (Powell and Branden 2007). The family is defined as a group of people related by descent, marriage, or adoption (pg 365). Marriage plays a pivotal role in families, marriage is the socially acknowledged and approved and often legal union of two people, allowing them to live together and to have children by birth or adoption (pg 365). The key to understanding the family are the concepts of endogamy and exogamy; endogamy is marriage to someone with similar characteristics in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, education level, social class,
Family, defined by the Online Merriam Webster Dictionary is, “a group of related people including people who lived in the past.” I believed that the wording of this definition is important because of the word related. The Online Merriam Webster Dictionary defines related as “belonging to the same group because of shared characteristics, qualities, etc.” This goes to show that a family does not have to be lineage, heritage, or chromosomes. There are many different types of families, and though many people think of a nuclear family when they think of a family, there are so many more qualities to consider when deciding how to personally define family.
I had to learn to adjust life without my sibling because my mom did not have enough money for them to be with us and adapt to a new culture. During this my mother and I ended up homeless during the winter months, this was the most brutal and embarrassing time of our life. In my teenage life I have overcome many obstacles; Even though we were living in poverty my mother had high expectation for her children and graduating from high school was just the beginning unfortunately I stumble again, I failed my Math Regent and did not graduate but I was determined not to be discouraged .
Everyone in the world belongs to a subculture. Each subculture has its own sets of traditions, relics, and artifacts. Relics and artifacts are symbolic, material possessions important to one's subculture. Relics are from the past; artifacts are from the present. These traditions, relics, and artifacts help shape the personalities of individuals and how they relate with others. Individuals know about these items through storytelling in the subculture. Families are good examples of subcultures. My family, a middle-class suburban Detroit family of Eastern European heritage, has helped shape who I am through story telling about traditions, artifacts, and relics.
This paper focuses on understanding the adolescent wellbeing in the lesbian and gay (LG) stepfamily from the perspective of family system theory. The family system theory emphasizes that the members in the family are interconnected with each other, and environment influences the quality of interconnection among the members and in the family system. Also, the concepts of boundaries, rules of transformation, and variety are used to describe the factors that influence the interaction between environment and family system and the quality of interconnection among the family members. Unlike the traditional meaning of “family”, for LG stepfamilies, the family structure and the meaning of family are not clear; thus this kind of ambiguous description may impact relationships, both among the family members and external to the family (Stewart, 2007). Also, some research confirms that LG parents and their children confront more stress from society. The stress may affect family members’ wellbeing and interactions. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the factors that influence the family system and the quality of interaction among members in order to develop strategies to assist in family problem solving.
As I sketched my sociological portrait, I found myself looking at the multiple statuses I hold in society and how each came about. I am not only a father to a young adult, but a son, a brother, a friend to many, a neighbor, a student once again and a blue-collar worker. Each of these statuses developed during various times in my life and required me to take on, at times, numerous roles. These statuses have defined who I have become and the impacts I have on society. My sociological portrait will be based on the social institution of family. My family has been the most influential in molding who I have become.
Family can not be described in a simple definition, in my opinion, a family is bigger than just that. Everyone tends to think that family is just people that are related to you and will always be there for you, but I do not think it is merely that simple. For me family is there when you do not even need them. People that are constantly making you feel loved and never making you feel unwanted. Family is not the blood that runs through your veins, it is the emotional connection you feel with someone. I do not feel an emotion connection with every family member. The ones I do have a connection with I would sacrifice anything for because for me that is the true definition of family.
wife and one husband, as it is common in some cultures for there to be
I am who I am partly because of my family, but mostly because of who I want myself to be. I will never be exactly what I want to be because of my family upbringing, but I can provide myself with opportunities to live a somewhat similar life. I would have loved to be brought up in a family that was into off-road racing, such as trucks, snowmobiles, an...
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
In order for society to meet the basic social needs of its members, social institutions, which are not buildings, or an organization or even people, but a system whose of social norms, mores and folkways that help make people feel important. Social institutions, according to our textbook, is defined as a fundamental component of this organization in which individuals, occupying defined statues, are “regulated by social norms, public opinion, law and religion” (Amato 2004, p.961). Social institutions are meant to meet people’s basic needs and enable the society to survive. Because social institutions prescribe socially accepted beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors, they exert considerable social control over individuals.
Families are meant to be guides to individuals and social connections. Institutions are the building blocks of a particular society. Due to the fact that families are so important the main goals that society sets on individuals are family, marriage, religion, education, the government, politics, and the economy. Many of the institutions are designed specifically to socialize, just like school is meant to socialize with families, they are there to form the individuals and punish them into submission to the social structures even though they try to guide social actors.
When the word “family” is discussed most people think of mothers, fathers, and other siblings. Some people think of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even cousins and more on the pedigree tree. Without family in people 's lives they would not be the same people that they grew up to be today and in the future. When people hear the word family they think about, the ones who will help them in any way they can whether it 's money, support, advice, or anything to help them succeed in life. Family will forever be the backbone of support. They are the ones who support their children during those life decisions. Family is not always blood related. Finally family is forever, family will never go away.
One of the most important and essential things that everyone must have in order to live a great and joyful life is family. One must follow values to be successful in life, and one must also support their family to keep that success advancing toward the future. In David W. McCurdy’s article, “Family and Kinship in Village India,” it discusses the significance of how a successful family is formed by tradition, preparation, and patience. The article describes how kinship has the power to arrange marriages successfully, make families unite and assist each other, and teach and help one another agriculturally or economically.
My family is who I have socialized most with since they were the first ever people I interacted with. Family has had a large influence over who I am today because they are the people who I learned almost everything from (primary socialization). The reason I have such high morals and values is because of my family. By observing and taking from their behavior I was able to form my own values through nurture. Although they taught me a lot of beneficial things that make me a better person, I have also learned from some of my family members bad habits. My uncle always smoked around the kids, including myself, when I was younger and I never liked the smell and now I associate that memory with cigarettes and it makes me not have any desire to smoke whatsoever. I also had another uncle who went to jail a lot for selling drugs and other related things, and since I definitely did not want to end up in jail I now make smart decisions, and associate myself with people who benefit me. On the whole my family has made me a nobler person by both their good and bad