SOCIOLOGY AND ME

Sociology and Me

Sociology and Me

Many people choose to view themselves as unique and one of a kind, sociologists work against that idea to show connections between groups of people. My family has achieved status, which is a social position attained by person through their own efforts, in my town and I have used that to get certain jobs. Achieved status is just one example of how we can all be classified into a certain sociological group. By examining my family I discovered that it was an environment where all members interacted and this portrayed a small group.

I am married to a firefighter with 3 boys; I work in a Emergency Room as a tech and I am going to school for nursing. I am an only child and really appreciate my parents. My mother's side of the family is mostly Irish, and shows cultural relativism in so far as the use relatives' actions to solidify their own decisions. My relatives depict the typical image of an Irish family. Every St. Patrick's Day is a big event in my house, almost more important than Christmas, it seems. By the time the boiled dinner is placed on the table, most of the relatives have had their fair share of beer and are squawking like a bunch of chickens. I find this ritual interesting as it greatly displays diffusion from a little known Irish saint to a world recognized event.

My Father's side of the family brings a completely different background to the table, as they are from Italy. When this side of the family gathers, they show there willingness to abide by Italian social norms even though they have all been living in America for many years. Some of these norms include: preparing large meals, brewing their own wine, and tending to large gardens.

Although, my parents are divorced and my father remarried, my sister, who's fifteen, and I still manage to adopt an equal amount of traits from both groups. A good way to examine what traits a person displays is to observe their everyday patterns and attitudes, in their personality. When further looking at the behaviors me and my sister acquire from our parents, it can be traced farther back to their parents and so on and so forth. I believe it is in this way that traditions are carried on and therefore shows that it is also the way many behaviors continually exist in different generations. My sister is a mess. Every personal aspect of her life is disorganized, and this happens to be one of the traits we both display. That being the only one I observe that we share; she also shows many other unique characteristics that probably not to unique and most likely were done by my mother as well. She always complies with higher authorities, while I find it harder to display this kind of obedience. Also, she shows the sociological norms for her age such as listening to boy bands, talking on the phone ...