To the outside world, I appear to belong to the Traditional White Nuclear Family culture, but my family included co-cultures and subcultures that were rare in the suburban south. Both of my parents were raised in a tradition of noblesse oblige-inspired progressivism characterized by gallantry and service. Both were raised in families dominated by a co-culture of science that encouraged intellectual pursuits. My family is strongly collectivist in nature. My grandfather grew up as a poor orphan in New York City. He had a younger brother to care for and wanted to avoid the “orphan trains” of the day. As a child, he worked as a bicycle messenger and learned wood patternmaking as an apprentice. He eventually became a pioneering aeronautical engineer in the first decade of the 20th century, but contrary to the modern, individualistic self-made man who feels that because he has made himself he has no responsibility to anyone else, my grandfather retained the collectivist culture of street children and orphan of his childhood: The older children take care of the younger ones, the healthy take care of the sick, the strong take care of the weak. The orphans recognized that all of them were at one time or another young, sick, and weak. When they were older, healthy, and strong, they took care of other children. Later, he moved to the Florida Gulf Coast from New York City and married the wealthy and beautiful daughter of the city’s mayor, a free spirit who shattered and defied tradition. She once crashed an ambulance – sirens blazing – full of bootleg whiskey in the middle of downtown on Sunday morning, causing a local scandal. My grandmother raised my father to believe that his standing in the community dictated that he had a ... ... middle of paper ... ... We do not identify ourselves as Irish or French or Creole or Southern. We have close friends from other culture, religions, and countries, and we have thrived in a modern culture of diversity. Rather than culturally exclusive decoration, we have always adorned our homes with eclectic flair. I enjoy living in a co-culture that values justice, equality and intellectual curiosity. The best thing about it is that it is future-oriented and inclusive. Growing up in a traditional, white, nuclear family, this course helped me articulate how different I was from the dominant white culture in the South and why. I learned a style of communication that highlights bringing people together, building consensus and promoting justice. I have found myself even more able to draw on a diplomatic communication style than when I lived overseas in Africa, South America, and Asia.
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
Mark Peterson’s 1994 photograph, Image of Homelessness, compares the everyday life of the working class to the forgotten life of the lowest class in society. In the image, the viewer can see a troubled homeless man wrapped in a cocoon of standard manipulated 12in by 12in cardboard boxes and yarn. The yarn is what is keeping the man and box tied to the red bench. This bench has chipped paint and is right in front of a black fence. Underneath the bench is dirt and debris from the dead fall leaves. The center focal point is the homeless man on the bench. He is the focal point because he is the greatest outsider known to man. Behind this man is vibrant life. There is pulsating people crossing the clean street, signs of life from all the advertising on store windows, families walking and blurred cars filled with
As a result, my thinking and perception was shaped and influenced by many of the negative stereotypes of African Americans that has been perpetuated in our society at large (this is where education can be a great liberator of falsehoods and misconceptions). I have come to appreciate Professor Marie’s Intercultural Communication course, for the class has broaden my critical thinking skills and stretched my thinking and understanding. Finally, how do I think this information will be of use to me? True understanding and teamwork will not begin to occur until individuals begin to speak up about address and embrace the controversial topics of race and culture. Setting aside the problem of racism and covering it up by saying that everyone is the same, does not eliminate the issue. Trying to patch up issues around the world dealing with culture and racism only provides a quick, short lasting solution, for when the temporary patch falls away, the problems will have grown twice as big. All it does is temporarily set aside what we know is still there.
I feel that I made a connection through the families that were mention in the book because even though I lived in a neighborhood that had access to many resources and suitable for children, I was not able to do things that middle class children that were mention in this book did. What my capture my attention in this book is that middle class children learn “how to set priorities, manage an itinerary, shake hands with strangers, and work on a team. They do so at a cost, however” (pg. 39). As I was growing up my parents did not show me how to shake hands with strangers, how to set priorities, or how to manage an itinerary I had to learn that by myself without anyone telling me or giving me a recompense for doing what I am supposed to do. Lower class and working families usually don’t recompense their children for doing things that they are expected to do because the parents might not have the money to do so and is the children’s responsibility to do what they are supposed to
Guin describes a utopian city that is characterized by a child suffering for the good of the entire society. The citizens live with luxuries, without wars, and competition. The children are pleased and the adults are smart and passionate. We easily judge other people’s choices and decisions that impact their life. The story compares reality and their society. They are comfortable with their society, and the story tells readers how their society is not less complicated. The moral of the story is personal choice, and sometimes people become bitter for a greater good. In the story, the child is mentally damaged to enjoy any part of his life, and he feels neglected by the
Carolina told about two boys wandering the streets of the favela who were from shelters in the city. At the shelters, there were innocent children abandoned or orphaned, but also there were young criminals sentenced to stay there. Both groups were thrown together and treated as though they all had prison sentences. Carolina wrote, “I felt that in the State Shelter the children’s morals were lowered. […] What’s lacking? Concern for the unfortunate or money from the State?” (81). Whether it was babies dying in the favela, or children growing into poverty, the families of favelados were destined for misfortune. Carolina’s older children were still in school, but they contributed to the family income, as was common at the time, by going out to beg or to collect paper and scrap with her. Favelas of Brazil bred the destruction of innocence and children grew up quickly, such as when “the son of Joaquim went to school drunk” (130). Intersectionality of race and class was also pertinent. Racism and classism prevented poor, impoverished children from receiving any opportunities to improve their
Starting in the 1850s, there were great increases in urbanization. Movements such as The Great Migration lead to huge populations in newly industrialized cities. In addition, there was a great increase in immigration, especially from families of eastern and southern European descent. The Orphan Train Movement’s purpose was to give the thousands of children in New York City that were left without homes due to increased urbanization and industrialization a new family out west with good living conditions and values and to increase the number of farm workers. The children mostly were placed with good families, but some children were treated as slaved by their families. Additionally, most of the children were excited to work; however, some were inept at doing farm work and were more detrimental than helpful to their new family.
This societal need for opulence is brought to the reader's attention through the juxtaposition of the mother's selfless actions and few possessions. When examined from a Marxist lens, the struggle between the classes, based on wealth, authority and race, is prevalent throughout the essay. The society of the American South in the twentieth century was full of racism and poverty. Walker recalls the
Before I analyze how my social location has influenced my experiences, I need to talk about my family’s demographic characteristics in comparison to our community and the larger U.S. society: In my hometown, Asians make up the third largest racial group (23%). Whites make up 51.3% and H...
Traditionally men had more power and control in the home than women. Women stay in the home to care for children and the home, while men leave the house to work for money. Education was not encouraged for females because men did not find an educated girl appealing. My grandmother, who was my primary caretaker, ensured that I learned how to cook, clean, sew, and how to accept commands in hope that one day I would become a good housewife. However, living in a land where gender roles are equal made it difficult to accept the role my grandmother hoped I would take. I learned to embrace the American culture and conform to be able to fit in with friends around me. Although initially my life decisions created a lot of conflict between my family and me, I learned to conform to society by accepting society’s norms and rejecting the norms that my family
It is not uncommon for the privileged people in contemporary society to feel disgusted at the sight of the dirty, starving, homeless people on the streets. Such people receive awful treatment from the other people in society. In the story, Guin states that “one of them may come and kick the child to make it stand up” (3). Is this the way the less privileged people should be treated? Although Guin uses a utopian society, she manages to bring out the picture of the injustices committed in society.
Before this class started, I never had the connection where I could look at issues using a sociological perspective. I never thought about other cultures and their beliefs and how different people can be around the whole world. After taking this course, it made me realize to get out of my comfort zone and appreciate different races and cultures that I am surrounded by. Once I understood how our own society behaved, I started to take use of culture relativism than ethnocentrism, and I began looking at everything in a more global perspective.
Family photo albums have played an essential role as guides of familial ideology and belonging of familial memory. Most family photo albums contain an incredible variety of things, both recognized and unidentified all held together by the family. At the point when family collections are assembled we are helped to remember our family history and have nostalgic ties inside the family. Seeing pictures of friends and family that have passed, empowers the families to original copy their lives as they happened and to recollect every one of the memories they made. I believe that family photo albums are a form of cultural artifacts that express the unity and strength within a family.
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.
I wasn 't quite sure what I was getting into when I first enrolled in Intercultural Communications. I had assumptions as to the goals of the course such as I would be learning about the way cultures interact with each other, learn about communication in general, or I would be learning about the ways we use communication through our culture. I think that I achieve the latter goal, but I also gained knowledge about more then just my culture. I came to realize that there is more to a culture than just language, appearances, and customs, which are aspects of culture that could be seen above the waterline, or they are more noticeable/obvious to someone outside of that culture. There are aspects of culture that are below the waterline, or more