Sociology covers factors affecting humanity from without, especially the interpersonal aspects. Science’s main aim is shifting focus from the self to the entire society and facilitating people’s social nature. Accordingly, sociology reveals both the factors that hinder and promote communal living for the purposes of promoting the positives while masking the negatives. The present work is an autobiography based on class and stratification concepts and their effects on American societies. Class-based social stratification is a real force in American societies based on its effects on young people’s ability to realize their potential.
Class-based social stratification in the U.S. originates from several factors. Examples of such influences include a family’s economic ability, an individual’s career and income, level of education, and even the type of one’s family setting. Unfortunately, where one lives in the present American setting affects his or her potential to succeed in life. Growing up in Atlanta, GA, under a single mother’s care brings me to the class stratification issue first-hand. Atlanta’s society is highly mixed up racially, socioeconomically, and politically. About half of the population in the locality is comprised of African Americans, followed by whites, then Asians, and a few Hispanics and other minority races (“Atlanta city, Georgia,” 2022). Belonging to any of these racial groups significantly implies one’s social class, with many Atlanta residents living impoverished lives.
Having a working mother, a registered nurse, places my family and me in the middle-class segment. Privileges in this class include affording education, having an inside role model, and meeting basic life needs. I exhibit significant determination in life courtesy of my family’s class. However, growing under a single mother’s setting exposed me to a challenging class, where I had to justify myself while bearing substantial pressure concerning my father’s absence. Accordingly, my social class informs my choice to become a sociologist to enlighten the world concerning humanness and the need to celebrate differences.
Reference
Atlanta city, Georgia(2022). Census Bureau QuickFacts.