Culture in the Family

From class this week I was able to come to understand many different people's point of view. I can't fully understand people's situations and their lives but through the lessons and readings I have gained new insights into other's family life. I have been able to see how social class and culture effect individuals and families. This week's class helped me to have more compassion on those who have a different life style than I do. It also helped me to have compassion on those who are trying their best to give a good life to their children but are dealt a rough hand of cards. I have gained more sympathy for those immigrants illegal or legal who come to the United States to give a better life to their children but struggle to get jobs, make enough money to support their family, and leave behind a life they had built and many of their family members. I have learned that it can be difficult for individuals and families to get out of the family cycle that has been in place for so long. 

Many people can be stuck and unable to progress due to their social class or the family culture that has been created over many years. There are habits or ways of doing things that can keep an individual or family from breaking that cycle and continuing on a different path. Even fear or uncertainty can play a part in not being able to create a new path and life. Now this doesn't mean that individuals and families don't have goals to progress and get better. It means that circumstances and the family dynamic we grew up in can shape how our lives turn out in the future. For example, we watched a video on a woman in the lower class. She lived in a trailer and had to walk to and from work, which took about 2 hours one way. She had two sons and one wanted to attend college and become a lawyer. Her goal was to one day attend college and become a teacher. She came from a family where her dad constantly had to work to support 22 children which meant they didn't have a lot of money. With her father being gone a lot there wasn't as much structure and now there isn't much structure with her own family because she is a single mother who is gone all day to help support her family. It is difficult for her to move up to a different social class and reach her goals due to certain circumstances. Thirteen years later we see that she is still in the lower class and struggles to support her family. Her sons both didn't finish high school and the oldest was never able to achieve his goal. She is still working hard to someday reach her goal but is kind of stuck. It is sad to see how hard she works and isn't able to reach her goal. Her family culture and social class keeps her in this never-ending loop.

This story is just one example of how social class and culture can shape you. Now there is diversity in culture and social class, not everyone falls under the stereotype. The reason there is diversity is because the family creates its own culture in itself. Family members choose what beliefs they align with and religion they want to be apart of. Families choose what is accepted or not accepted in the house. Family culture can be passed down through generations by children doing things that their parents did. It can also be created through the mixing of a husband and wife's different beliefs, behaviors, characteristics, and traditions. The family culture can be learned or created over time as children and different factors are added. For example, when my husband and I got married we started to create our own family culture from the things we had seen from our families (now we didn't know that that was what we were doing, it just happens naturally). My husband's family watched rated R movies and he was taught that it wasn't a bad thing. My family never watched rated R movies and I was taught that a prophet told us not to watch movies like that and we should follow the prophet. We agreed together that we wouldn't watch rated R movies because we wanted to be obedient. 

Culture and social class play a big role in the way are family is set up. Our families have a huge impact on us as individuals and on our future families. It is important to understand culture and social class so that we can better understand those around us and work on being less judgmental.