Sociological Autobiography
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From August, 1992, the day I was born, I have been given an ascribed status, a status that was obtained involuntarily at birth, as a daughter and younger sister. It was determined that my sex, the biological distinction between either male and female, was female. From that moment my parents used my gender, personal traits that society uses to label someone as male or female, to make decisions about how I was going to be raised, how I should be dressed, and what is expected of me, or my gender role. My parents knew from experience in society how to treat me and how I should behave based on our societys standards.
My family had a huge impact on how I would turn out later in life. My mother, sisters, and brother all had an impact of my outlook in life. They helped teach me what values, ideas within society regarding what is desirable in life, and beliefs, specific statements that people consider to be true, that were important in my life. They were instrumental in teaching me how to interact with people and how to exist as a member in society. Along with teaching me manners, general beliefs, and values, they also taught me about norms, behavioral expectations which uses values to guide appropriate behavior in different situations.
As a part of a working society I held several different statuses, socially defined positions an individual occupies. While growing up I maintained many statuses that helped shape my future. I have always had many statuses at one time, or better known as a status set. I was a very active member in the Art club, a student, a best friend, and a girlfriend, just to name a few. Each of these statuses involved different roles, behavioral expectations for a particular status that is defined by both society and an individual. Maintaining the roles of these statuses involved myself upholding a role set, a number of roles attached to a particular status. For example, as a student I was responsible for keeping my grades up as well as completing my assignments in a timely and orderly manner. Maintaining these statuses, and roles within these statuses, constantly helped shape me into the person that I am now, and realize that I am responsible for the roles and statuses that I take on in my life. I have reached levels of achieved statuses, positions a person takes on voluntarily and places upon ones self. I was involved in art club and was an officer during my senior year, which was a position that I volunteered for, but my per