Difference Between Social Class And Sociological Imagination

Social Class and the Sociological Imagination What is social class? Well, in my opinion, “social class” refers to a group of people with similar levels of wealth, power and status. There are three “class” of social class in real life which are “top 1%”, “middle 20%” and “lowest 20%”. I grew up mostly in my country, Vietnam because I just been here for almost two years. Actually, my family in my country was a wealthy family because my mother has a restaurant and her business was very thrived. Meanwhile, my father has a real estate job and it was also very thrived. Therefore, I was very lucky to live in a “middle class” family which gave me much good conditions to be able to grow up as well. We could live in a big single house with full facilities,

Therefore, I just realized that they have much difference to me about housing and education. My best friend, Truong who also is my soccer teammates. We’ve met in a soccer game in the public park near my school when we were child and then, we become the best friends. Truong is younger than me and lived quite far from my house. His family was difficult when he was young. His father passed away and his mother has to go to work two jobs to take care of him and they lived in a small apartment without fully equipped for daily life (don’t have TV or hot water for bathing). Therefore, his situation was not acceptable for him to be able to study in private schools and he was just study to the end of secondary in public schools (this school is not having a good conditions and inadequate material conditions). I knew that his mother sometimes could not have enough money to pay for his education. I’ve tried to help him about the tuition but it was limited because at that time, I’ve not made money by myself yet. However, I always give to Truong my respect and even admiration because his diligence and hard working to overcome difficulties. He went to work when he was fifteen years old and now, he is the owner of a restaurant in my hometown. By the comparison between me and Truong, I have to say “Thanks God!” for giving me a good childhood with everything I needed and I

“Intergenerational mobility” describe changes in the social position of member’s family from one generation to the next generation. Truong 's mother does not have good living conditions and she had to work very hard to care for Truong to hope he will get better life. However, the difficult life situation has also much impact on the Truong’s life and the growth of him, therefore, he had to leave school early and went to work to take care of himself. By working hard and his diligences, Truong has improved the quality of his life and we can conclude that he has been moving from the “lowest class” from his mother (no TV, has to live in apartment and could not go to school for his education) to “middle class” (Truong now owns a restaurant, living in a big house with full facilities). In addition, Truong has a son who just turned six years old last month. He told me that he plans to take his son to study in a private school because he thought it was good for his son and he wants his children is eligible to grow up in the best way, not like him before that. Therefore, as we can see the movement or we can understand as the change from Truong’s mother to his son when the quality of life, housing and education of the next generation will be better than the previous