Week 3

This week we talked about class and culture and what they have to do with family.  As a class we defined culture as groups that have different cultures; experiences and understanding; dictates lifestyle.  The dictionary.com definition is "the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group".  We then went ahead and defined class as levels of society; measured by money, recreation, lifestyle, education, birth, appearance, work, and where an individual lives.  The technical definition is "persons or things regarded as forming a group by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities, or traits".

Based on what we defined, we began to talk about how these two terms are interconnected.  If one is influenced, the other is changed as well.  They play off of each other and affect each other.  For example, say you are part of a middle class family where you father is the manager of a grocery store.  You have your needs provided for and are able to participate in activities that require money like the movies, bowling, or sports.  You have grown up being taught that you can get things with hard work.  One day your mother buys a lottery ticket and wins.  Your family is suddenly rich so you move to a better home, buy nicer clothes, and plan to attend a prestigious school.  Your class level has changed because of money and potential for lifestyle and recreation.  Your culture begins to change as well as you interact with people within your new class.  

While this is a very obvious example of class and culture changes, you can have smaller causalities(cause and effect) that make subtle changes.  Family structure is something that directly influences the culture of a family and is often linked to class.  If you are a single parent, especially a mother, you are more likely to be "lower" class because you don't make quite as much, work jobs that require lower education, and live in cheaper neighborhoods.  You aren't bad for being a single mother but you are categorized into a class by influence of your family structure.  The culture in the family is also different since the mother fills the role of both mother and father.  Family relationships are slightly different than if a father or father-figure were in the picture.

All of this may seem like it's only a matter of chance that can change a family but never underestimate your power to change a family culture.  You can take note of patterns in your family and work to change them.  You can even enlist other family members to make the change with you to make it easier.  You can expand your individual culture through experiences and understanding to influence the life you will live.

If you want to make a change, make it.  You can do it!