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Yessenia Garcia

Sociology 1010
Daniel Poole
Society is very diverse. We are all different but have some similarities with
others. We all tend to gravitate to those with similarities, causing different social grous within
society. Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, grous, and societies !Giddens,
Duneier, "elbaum, # $arr, %00&, .'(. )here are many sociological toics that have shaed
and imacted my life, including* culture, grous, controls # deviance, stratification, and social
institutions.
Culture
$ulture consists of the values held by members of a articular grou, the languages they
sea+, the symbols they revere, the norms they follow, and the material goods they create, from
tools to clothing !Giddens, Duneier, "elbaum, # $arr, %00&, . '0,'1(. $ulture has definitely
layed a big art in my life. - am .isanic/ both of my arents are from 0e1ico. Part of my
culture is to sea+ in Sanish. Sanish was my first language. 2earning Sanish for my first
language is bitter3sweet tye of thing. -t is sweet because it is a way - get to communicate with
some of my family members who don4t +now 5nglish. -t is bitter because my 5nglish is not the
best. - thin+ learning 5nglish as my second language has affected my grammar tremendously.
"lso, when - first started to learn 5nglish - felt so lost/ - actually ended u lost.
0y culture is also bound to the value of loyalty. Since - was little my family has instilled
the need of stic+ing by your family4s side. - love the loyalty and comfort it has given me. -
believe this is a great value that - treasure. - believe in loyalty no matter what. )o me, loyalty is a
reresentation of love. -f you love someone, you4ll be loyal.
Within my culture food is a big thing. " lot of it isn4t on the healthy side since we do
coo+ with a lot of oil. 0y mom and grandma made it a oint to teach me how to coo+ from a
young age. !this is a
fountain in Guadala6ara, 7alisco, 0e1ico(. )his is where my family is from.
Groups
" social grou is a collection of eole who share a common identity and regularly
interact with one another on the basis of shared e1ectations concerning behavior !Giddens,
Duneier, "elbaum, # $arr, %00&, .118(. Social grous in my life were both a negative and
ositive influence. - am who - am today though because of them.
-n the beginning of high school, - hung out with the wrong crowd. - did feel comfortable
with them. - felt comfortable because we were from the same cultural bac+ground. 0y mentality
bac+ then was to 6ust have fun, as was theirs. 9ut they were the girls - called :sisters;.
<ow, - have a grou within S2$$. - thin+ this grou +ees me going with school. We
tal+ daily and hang out. )he eole - hang out with today have the mentality of succeeding. )o
succeed we +now we have to focus on school.
9oth of these grous are rimary grous. 0y family is also a rimary grou because all
these grous are intimate. )here are a lot of emotional ties.
" secondary grou is more of an organi=ed grou with no emotional ties. - am and have been in
a coule of secondary grous. >or e1amle, in high school - was in a club called .?S". -n this
club - articiated in some activities but there was not a lot of emotional ties to get more
ersonal with eers. "nother club, - was in was S2$$ Pre,0ed $lub. -n this club - was the
resident so - was more involved. 5ven though, - was more involved the officers and - 6ust tal+
about our lans with the club. 5ventually though some of the officers became a art of my
rimary grou.
Whether it4s been a rimary grou or secondary grou, they have both heled me at figuring out
what - want to do with my life. )he rimary grous have given me strength to continue on with
school and in a way showing the imortance of school. )he secondary grous have heled me
figure out my career ath.
Controls & Deviance
Deviance may be defined as nonconformity to a given set of norms that are acceted by a
significant number of eole in a community or society !Giddens, Duneier, "elbaum, # $arr,
%00&, .1'@(. - have definitely had my fair share of deviance. >or e1amle, when - was fourteen,
- got a tattoo without my arents +nowing. - +new they4d be mad but - 6ust felt at the time -
should do it. 0any things my arents have told me not to do, -4ve done. - am grateful for my
mista+es though because without those mista+es, - would not have learned. - am also glad -
learned sooner than later. - thin+ most of my deviances have taught me that my arents want the
best for me and - have more reasoning of what is best.
Stratifications
Social Stratifications describe ineAualities among individuals and grous within human
societies !Giddens, Duneier, "elbaum, # $arr, %00&, . 1&1(. Some of the stratifications are
social class, gender, race, and age. )hese have influenced my life because they set me aart from
others.
0y social class is middle class. 0y family is financially stable. We might not live in the
biggest house but it4s comfortable. Growing u though, we were a art of the lower class. - was
limited to certain things. >or e1amle, my brother and - shared some clothes. Seeing how hard
my mom wor+ed to give us what she could, made me be areciative.
0y gender has been a way eole 6udge me. -n my family women are suosed to clean,
coo+, and watch younger siblings. )he men don4t do much but maintenance on cars or the yards.
With what my family has e1ected out of me, it has made me resonsible. )his has also made me
somewhat reared for the future.
"s a .isanic, my race has been loo+ed as a negative. 0any eole have made racial
slurs or degraded me for it. >or my race, it is common to be classified as overweight, illegal, and
not hysically attractive. " lot of these have brought me down. )his has contributed to feeling so
self,conscious and low about myself. 0any eole also believe we don4t sea+ 5nglish 6ust by
loo+ing at us. 0y race has a lot of negative ublicity and it4s +ind of li+e the saying :one bad
ale ruins the bas+et;.
"s a %0 year old, - get classified as a rebel who still has no sense of resonsibility. "t my
6ob, - am a lead scheduler. - am in charge of orders and who does them. 0any of the eole -
wor+ with are older. So, the eole that are older do not resect the fact - tell them what to do.
?ne lady even told me once that - was nothing but a little girl and she wasn4t going to listen to
me. )heir resonses have made me stronger because they are the ones acting immature. - have
reali=ed that - will be loo+ed down on because of my age but it doesn4t mean - have to be what
they thin+ of me.
Social Institutions
-nstitutions by definition are the more enduring features of social life !Seumas, %011,
ara.1(. )hese features include family, education, and religion. )hey are features - thin+ are most
imortant in shaing one4s life.
0y family means the world to me. 0y dad left my mom when - was young but my mom
remarried. We became a stefamily. -t was hard at first to understand why my dad was not
around but -4m grateful now. )his has definitely affected me by having trust issues. 9ut it did
bring a great stedad into my life that is the best father figure.
5ducation has always been something that is considered imortant. - agree, education is
something - value. )he more education you have the more you are socially acceted. 0y family
hasn4t had the oortunity to go to school. -n a way it has made it harder on me. - feel li+e - have
no suort. >or e1amle, when first alying at S2$$, - had no idea what to do. - did not even
+now how to fill out the financial aid alication. - +now that by furthering my education - can
be a suort system to my siblings when it4s their turn to continue on with school.
Beligion growing u was imortant. - attended church every Sunday. 0y grandma was
the one who was the strongest $atholic and had all of us do as she did. 5ventually within time -
slowly started to go every other Sunday. 5ventually, - stoed attending. - currently don4t attend
church.
Beferences
Giddens "., Duneier 0., "elbaum B., # $arr D.!%00&(Essentials of Sociology !C
rd
ed.(
0iller, Seumas, DSocial -nstitutionsD, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011
Edition), 5dward <. Ealta !ed.(,
FB2GHhtt*33lato.stanford.edu3archives3sr%0113entries3social,institutions3I.

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