Social Class in America!

This week we are going to take a deep dive into social class in America because it exists! I think a lot of people try to ignore or push away hints of different social classes but we see it everywhere in the U.S. There is a moving documentary called ‘People Like Us’ and it explores specific families in the U.S. in different classes. I found the attitudes and behaviors of different people to be astonishing. It showed how a lot of people who are born lower class, will tend to stay lower class and those born into the upper class will typically stay in that class. We saw in the different videos how certain lower class individuals really shied away and felt isolated from the upper class but others had dreams and worked surprisingly hard to be able to get into the upper class status. It was heartbreaking to watch those in lower class desire a different life more than anything but not be able to obtain it. 

In my opinion, I absolutely fully believe that each culture is valid. I think we should be tolerant of each and every culture because every single one contributes in an important way. Without different cultures, America would not be as diverse and surely not as exciting. It’s easy to get caught up in our own culture and begin to ostracize those who have different values and ways of doing things but then we are becoming ignorant and unaccepting of others. 

Class in America and family structure is such an interesting topic to take a look at. The statistics of different social classes has a huge impact on society. In the past weeks, we took a look at the number of children different families, divorce rates, intact families vs. broken families, etc. When specifically looking at when people are having kids, the upper and middle class citizens are more likely to have children after marriage which leads to a lower divorce rate. However, when looking at the lower class, the amount of non-marital births are higher than that of the middle/upper class, and divorce rates have stayed the same because bringing a child into an unstable marriage will tend to bring more stress and issues between the mother and father.

There was a family structure study done on all different kinds of family including intact, divorced, remarried, homosexual parents, etc. The results from it are mind-blowing! For example, It showed that the average level of education is much higher for intact families, there was a much lower smoking rate for intact families, a lower arrest rate, a lower unemployment rate, and so many more. Even in topics of suicide, therapy, and depression, the children from intact families showed up much less than children from other situations.
In a study done about immigrated Mexican families, there was a closer look at the challenges in the family after immigration. The parents had much less time to spend with their children and due to this there were more feelings of loneliness, isolation and actions of risk- taking. The homeostasis of the family was interrupted due to the parents being gone all the time which wasn’t a normal back home. When the study interviewed the children of these families, a very important piece that was helpful to the kids was remembering their family and traditions back home. The Mexican culture is heavily influenced by the family. Anytime there could be a gathering there was. I think this tradition of always being around family and doing meals and spending time together is one of the most important traditions any family could have. Time spent together is crucial to the development of children and greatly impacts their overall well being. 

The most important thing I want each of you to take from this post is the importance of having an intact marriage. Both a mother and a father are so crucial to the development of a child. There needs to be a change of mind towards children when it comes to non-marital births, divorces, etc. The impact these things can have on a child are so profound.