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!

Family Systems

This week I have been learning about certain theories. A theory is basically an explanation of something. Social scientists use theories to guide their research. Some of their research includes the study of intimate relationships. The four most commonly known theories studied by social scientists to understand intimate relationships are: systems theory, exchange theory, symbolic interaction theory, and conflict theory.

The book we are reading out of in my class, called Marriage and Family: the Quest for Intimacy by Robert H. Lauer, says the following about systems theory:
"As applied to intimate relationships, system theory asserts that the intimate group must be analyzed as a whole; the group has boundaries that distinguish from other groups. Thus, particular people from the system have particular rules and roles that apply to their system. Furthermore, the group is also composed of interrelated parts or individuals. That is, the parts are not independent but influence each other and work together in such a way that the system tends to be maintained; outside influences generally cause minimal change."

I liked this explanation of systems theory.

Exchange theory asserts that we want the costs in relationships to be lower than the rewards. For example, there is the phrase "you owe me one." That demonstrates exchange theory in action. If the costs in relationships are higher than the rewards, we often tend to stray from those people.

Symbolic interaction theory is usually about the perception of meaning in relationships. In the book it says, "That is, what happens in interaction is a result not merely of what individuals bring to it but also of the interaction itself." Also, peoples ideas and perceptions change as they interact with different people.

Conflict theory, as said in the book, "asserts that all societies are characterized by inequality, conflict, and change as groups within the society struggle over scarce resources." This theory is basically about how people in groups and relationships have conflicting ideas, and there are different reactions to it. An example of this is feminists. Overall, they agree that everyone should be equal, but different feminist believe this to different extents.

I really enjoyed learning about different theories and systems, and I would encourage you all to do some research on it!

Thanks for reading!

The Population Crisis

People are always talking about how the world population is growing at a rate that will exceed the carrying capacity of the earth. Well, I recently watched a video for my family relations class that says the opposite is occurring. It had some interesting facts that I thought I would share with you all.

The video I watched said that we can most likely expect a decrease in the population during the next 40 years, or so. One of the reasons for this is the drop in fertility rate. Fertility rate is how many children, on average, a woman has in her lifetime. The current fertility rate, for the world, is about 2.47 children. The fertility replacement rate is about 2.13 children. This means that we need a fertility rate of about 2.13 children to maintain the current population. While it may seem that we are at a good place right now for maintaining the population since we are over the replacement rate, research shows that it has been dropping each year. For example, in about 9 years it dropped from 2.6 to 2.47, which is crazy for such a short amount of time, and it will just continue to get lower and lower. Not to mention that in Japan, the fertility rate is 1.2 children. There are more adults than children, and the decrease in their population started in 2005. Also, in Russia, about 40% more people are dying than being born. Just imagine if more countries follow their lead; the population will be decreasing in no time!

People have been predicting that there will not be enough resources to go around. In fact, in the sixties they were predicting that there wasn't enough to support 4 billion people. Today we have over 7 billion people, and we are still doing fine thanks to human resources. People are innovative and creative, and keep coming up with ways to make new things to support human life. If the population continues to drop, though, there will be less people to create those new technologies and innovations.

Feel free to watch the video that I did, and do your own research! I will put the link to the video below:

http://www.byutv.org/watch/59b6b917-984a-478f-93b1-521a647779c4/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter-part-1

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to Sweet Meditation!

Throughout this semester, I will be posting about what I am learning in my Family Relations class. I hope to just share my thoughts and insights with anyone reading, and I hope that you enjoy them! Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog!