Born onto a Canvas with Already Dried Paint We like to think that we are all unique and that we have full control of the forces that affect our lives. Many aspects of one’s personality and life can be explained by larger social forces such as socioeconomic status, race and gender roles. It was not until I started this sociology class that I began thinking of my life in a larger sociological sense. I realize now that my life has been influenced by a variety of social forces that I did not have control of. We are born onto a canvas with already dried paint and that dried paint is the framework for what the final picture will become. In general, I have lived a privileged life. I would describe my upbringing as upper middle class economically …show more content…
At first impression, I thought that he was just a bad person and that he was detrimental to society. As time went on and I learned more about him personally, I began to realize that he was not in fact an objectively bad person. His behaviors were learned at a young age from a variety of sources and he was in a sense a victim of his circumstances. I agree that racism should not exist, but I don’t believe it should be looked at in such an individualistic way. Society should not focus on shaming racists, rather they should focus on stopping the root of racism, which is the lack of understanding between groups of people. Society focus on not being so segregated and the media should show that other groups of people are just people and not just some …show more content…
This is largely true in a larger sense, but growing up as a male in this society has its advantages and disadvantages. I was born into a family of largely males: a father and two brothers. The overarching themes that we’ve talked about in class have been somewhat accurate in my life. I have been influenced by society’s vision of what a man should be. As the youngest sibling, I was taught how to be a man from both my brothers and my father. My brother that is closest in age to me, over the years tried teaching me the traditional masculine values of being tough and not showing feelings. The other main influence in my image of what a man is comes from my father. He taught me that being a man was about being respectful , caring for those that depend on you, and that accomplishments are in large part what defines you. As much as I would like to think that my upbringing was unique, these values I learned are representative of the societal masculine ideals. I believe that there is a dichotomy in masculine teaching in society. One train of thought is the hyper masculine teachings that I got from my brother and the other more reserved masculinity teaching that I got from my father. I believe I got a fairly unique blend of these societal teachings that have been the backbone of the man I am today. I see the hyper masculine ideals all the time in college. These guys are trying