Essay Assignment
The histories of the two sides of my family are extremely different. On one hand, my socioeconomic status today is somewhat predictable as a result of several generations (on my mother’s side) of well-educated, financially stable families that perpetuated an upper-middle class lifestyle; on the other hand, my father broke the mold of his heritage by being the first to achieve a college degree (in fact, SEVERAL degrees including a PhD). After having a discussion on this topic with my parents, I have realized that I must still categorize myself as being in their socioeconomic class; there is an interesting phenomenon that seems to include those exclusively in higher classes – even though my personal net worth is technically far below the line that defines the higher socioeconomic classes, simply having the ascribed status of being my parents’ child assigns me heavy benefits in the way of educational and financial capital, as well as a solid ‘safety net’.
My mother’s side of the family has always placed the utmost importance on education. My mother describes growing up and ‘just knowing’ that a college degree was going to be a part of her life. My grandfather (her father) values education so highly that he set up college trust funds for each of his grandchildren (with the expectation that his descendants would continue the tradition as a form of repayment) when they were born, totaling approximately $600,000 over the years. The huge majority of all family members on her side, all the way back to the early 1900’s, achieved college degrees and enjoyed considerable financial stability. My mother has a PhD in Business Management and is now a tenured Professor at Brigham Young University.
As I mentioned earlier, my father’s side of the family did not have a history of educational achievement, and had exceptional difficulties by being essentially financially desolate. He was the first to achieve a college degree after generations of farmers and laborers without a high school education; this is a good place to recall the educational and financial capital one can have simply because family members have achieved a certain socioeconomic status. My father attributes much of his success to two important people in his life: my mother and his first LDS Mission Companion, both of whom bolstered his working knowledge of how to accomplish a degree (building his educational capital). My father now has an EDD and is a Doctor of Education, and is a tenured Professor at Brigham Young University. On a similar note, my father’s brother would not have been capable of putting himself through his own college degree without my father’s educational and financial capital (which he might not have achieved without his connections to my mother’s family, so on and so forth…we begin to see how social interaction and networking within families can have exponentially more helpful effects the higher up the socioeconomic ladder we go).
Earlier I mentioned the ‘safety net’ that comes built in with having parents that are financially and economically stable; unless no one is capable of coming to your aid, you do not truly understand what it means to be ‘poor’. While I currently earn an income below a qualitative ‘line’ that might, on paper, define me as lower class, I have educational capital and a support network (both financial and practical) that ensures that this is a temporary situation. Despite any poor decisions I have made (and trust me, I’ve made some bad ones) or mistakes I might make in the future, I have the unearned benefit and safety net of my ascribed status as my parents’ child. This is a phenomenon particular to those born into more socioeconomically stable families.
I believe these benefits that come to the higher classes of social stratification have a snowball effect (it’s easy to see by looking at my mother’s family, for example). Allow me to get dreamy for a moment: Imagine how the world could be if it was the norm to use your educational and financial capital to bolster up those in your communities, and not just those within your bloodlines. Humans are willing to give their resources and support to other humans labeled ‘family’, but no one else (typically). I believe we see an interesting combination of two human characteristics here: generosity (towards humans labeled ‘family’) and greed (EXCLUSIVELY towards humans labeled ‘family’). I personally do not feel stratification has a place in a truly compassionate and collaborative human society. I suppose stratification is ‘functional’ as defined by the parameters of our heartbreakingly uncaring world, since it perpetuates the status quo.
According to Functionalist Theory (which states that each part of society is functional for the stability of society, where ‘stability’ simply means the absence of social change), everything is running the way it should socioeconomically; the lower classes generally operate without much education and leave the space open for those capable of purchasing an education to be competitive, which in turn has allowed the educational system to evolve into a business that caters to the socioeconomic elite and which perpetuates the status quo. I believe that this theory is a technically sound concept: it does, in fact, maintain ‘stability’. However, I feel that humanity is done a gross disservice by the continuation of social stratification that leaves generations struggling for the basic necessities of life.
Conflict Theory (which states that all social problems exist as a result of the struggle over resources) seems to coexist nicely with Functionalism in regards to socioeconomic status; as a result of political and economic domination by a few elites the majority of humans inside our capitalist society tend to interact in destructive and non-supportive ways, there is little mutual benefit and cooperation (unless, of course, you have the same blood…and even then, it is not a guarantee).
Humanity’s struggle for resources (Conflict Theory) perpetuates the status quo (Functionalism). It’s fascinating to recognize that the two theories not only exist side by side, but support each other in this respect.
My family’s history is socioeconomically diverse, and I believe this brings with it a certain clarity regarding the implications of social stratification and the resulting opportunities. I recognize stratification as capable of being either a brick wall or an automated staircase (with a comfy net underneath it); however, I don’t believe that stratification necessarily renders humans incapable of personal revolution and achievement.