An Unexpected Companion : Influence : My Family As A Family

Social class from a sociological perspective refers to a group of people of who share similar status, levels of power and wealth. At the moment in my family I would say that a lower-middle class serves as a best representation of our socioeconomic status. A lower-middle class according to Rosside’s model, accounts for approximately thirty to thirty-five percent of the population. It includes less affluent professionals such as nurses and teachers. I based my family’s socioeconomic status on our moderate position when it comes to income, education, and occupation class.

Baker, M. (2001) Families, Labour and Love: Family diversity in a changing world. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin.

My family history is rather unclear and unexplored. I do know that my maternal grandmother was adopted. My paternal side is said to be Italian. I come from an English speaking family. The geographic range is also unexplored and limited to western Pennsylvania. I grew up in the small town of Nolo, Pennsylvania. I can recall moving from one house to another but within the same county. I did change school districts one time. I would consider this to be very stable. Currently, I reside in Indiana county where I grew up. I have been married for six years and have a two year old son that will soon be a big brother. My wife and I built a home within the same geographical location as our parents. My spouse was also raised in a stable nuclear style family structure.

The definition or meaning of the word family seems to differ from person to person depending on a person’s cultural values, experiences, and upbringings. A person’s significance of the word family impacts its meaning from an individual perspective. But collectively, the meaning of the word family is a psychological position, role, and relationship between two or more people. For some people, there are a set of expectations, commitments, and loyalties associated with the position or relationship. But for me, the definition of family, are those individuals related to me through my parents. Along with friends that have influenced my life in the past and continue to do so toward the future. I consider many of my friends from high school, college, and the military as part of my extended family. But I also believe that family members should hold a certain level of affection or love for each other. Moreover, the meaning of the term has evolved from being a genetic relationship to a mindset of many roles.

If we talk about Christianity point of view Holy bible lays down “Wives submit yourself into your own husbands as unto the Lord.”

“Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” This quote from the famous Disney movie Lilo and Stitch presents the true meaning of what it is to be a part of a family. As the youngest of eight children, I know from experience how the family installs our core values and personality traits. My oldest sibling is sixteen years older than me and my closest sibling is around nineteen months older than me. Being a part of a big family can be challenging, but it is also extremely rewarding. I learned a variety of life skills that most people my age are not exposed to until much later in life.

Family can be defined in a verity of different ways and depending who you ask, the answer will vary. A 5-year-old can have a different definition than an adult. Our book Understanding families defines family as “any unit that defines itself as a family, including individuals who are related by blood or marriage as well as those who have made a commitment to share their lives” (Hanson, 2). The definition of family will be viewed differently in school systems, hospitals, and even legally. Society has constructed this image of family, that holds an unrealistic expectation on communities and especially on children. The image society has placed on us, is a husband and a wife living behind a white picket fence, with 2.5 children and a dog. However, what I have learned is that family changes, they come and go, and do not last forever.

“ HELP!HELP!SOMEBODY LIFT THE COUCH!”,my mom screeched for the umpteenth time today. “Why do I even bother trying to relax?”, I ask myself as I dragged my feet into the living room to see what all the commotion was about. As I turned the corner I immediately burst into laughter. My whole family looks at me like I’m crazy. Then I started getting aches in my chest. This moment reminded me of something that happened almost everyday in this house.

While growing up with a sister usually lives in the same home in my case I lived with my mother and my sister lived with her father. I grew up in New York City, and my sister was in Miami two separate locations. The outcome would be, I joined the military and currently attending school for Occupational Therapy Assistant and my sister became a housewife and a Nurse after her separation. How we are raised in two separate locations and one parent a piece can grow up in two different ways. How we turned out is two members of society that paid taxes, both own a home, and live to raise our children.

I had the pleasure of interviewing my next-door neighbors, who are a family of six. The family members are Mom, Dad, a 17-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy, and a 4 months old baby girl. The Mom, Dad, and T the 17-year-old girl migrated from El Salvador. They did not come together to the United States dad came first than mom, and than T. The two young boys and the baby girl were born here in the United States. When asked what culture they identify with mom, dad, and T said Salvadorian and the two boys S and B said they identify with both cultures. A lot of the values they have are in relation to their culture, they believe family should come first; its important to remember your roots, and that respect is the foundation of a family.

A change in characters happened throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Nath, Lydia’s brother, was doing everything in his power to keep Lydia from being happy. He believed that Lydia was receiving favoritism from their parents, so he got jealous and tried to change this. For example, he knew his younger sister did not know how to swim. However, he pushed his sister into the lake to make her learn how to and to see her struggle because of his harsh feelings towards her. This caused Lydia to almost drown, foreshadowing what caused her death. Then, when he learns of Lydia’s death by drowning, he is extremely affected. He finally becomes concerned, however, at this point, it was too late. He wanted to get to the bottom of her death. There was an investigation to see if she had committed suicide or if she was kidnapped and murdered. To figure this out, at Lydia’s funeral, he found a boy that he thought was taking advantage of Lydia. Nath knew the day before Lydia went missing that she was with her friend Jake. He did not trust him. Nath knew that when the two of them hung out, all they did was smoke. However, he also knew that Jake frequently looked to have sexual relationships with other girls, so he thought that he also tried this with his younger sister. Nath approached him at the funeral and suddenly started questioning him and then punched him. Nath’s actions and feelings about his sister changed because of her death.

Family Theory deals with multiple theories that applied to families and those situations that occurred whether it was a job, marriage, husband, or even having a baby. However; I will list a few of those mentioned in my class; Rational Choice and Social Exchange Theory, Symbolic Interaction, Life Coarse and Lifespan theory, and Conflict and critical Theory. The main theories that mostly happen in my Geno gram were life course and Rational Choice theory. In this paper I will write about the theories that applied to my family levels.

A family is what most people would like to have in life. People that are there for you when you need them and to help guide us through the obstacles in our lives. Most people think that you have to be related to be considered a family “A family is a group where the adults cooperate for the well-being of the group, it can include those related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and also those who live together in an intimate relationship”(Hammond and Cheney) . It can be someone that has been your friend for years that you consider to be about of the family. Family is people that you can count on to be there for moral support when needed. Most families that we think of contain a mother, father, sisters, and brothers, but not all families are the same. There are some families with two parents, one parent, parents of the same sex, adoptive parents and the list goes on. Most people have an idea of the perfect family that they essentially want.

It’s not easy to experience the loss of a loved one. It’s a time of deep sadness and sorrow that brings family and friends together to say their last good byes. I was fortunate to be able to witness a family during the passing of their loved one. It might seem insensitive to do an observation during such an intimate event. But, when I explain the reasons why I chose this particular event it will all make sense.

Why is this important to society? Some people want to know how long they have to live. Knowing exactly when you’ll take your last breath is bitter sweet. Knowing you’ll be dying in a week, month or year can change a person’s life drastically. In society, this could either be an astounding finding or an instant depression just waiting to happen, depending on the way you look at it. Would you want to know?