Culture, Social Class, and Diversity

This week in our Family Relations class we have been talking a lot about different social classes, cultures, and diversities, and how they affect families. I have really been enjoying the class discussions we have had this week on this topic. Culture can be described as one's beliefs, traditions, values, and actions. Social class is usually associated with wealth, social status, and where one lives. These two often go hand in hand. Although, where one can usually not choose their social class, you can choose what culture you want to belong to. We watched some videos on people's social classes, and how that affected their lives, and the lives of those around them. It is really interesting how much your culture and social class determine what your life is like.

We also talked about how there are many diversities in families. We specifically talked about how in Hispanic families, it is not uncommon for a family member to leave for a while to go to the U.S. and work to be able to get the rest of the family there together. That really changes the dynamics and roles in the family. This doesn't apply to just Hispanic families, though; it can apply to a wide variety of families all over the world. What will happen is that the family member that leaves first is usually the father, and so roles have to shift. The mother usually has to start working, and being a stronger disciplinarian to the children. When the family is finally back together, it is hard for them to adjust to the way they originally were. It is just interesting to see how different a family can be if just one person leaves for a long period of time.

I encourage anyone reading to do some research about this on their own; it really is interesting to read about. Here is what I mainly read on Hispanic families:

file:///C:/Users/Hannah/Downloads/The%20Costs%20of%20Getting%20Ahead,%20from%20Smith,%20et%20al.pdf

Thanks for reading!