Sociological Autobiography
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SOCIOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY
It all began with my birth, on July 13, 1980. Out I came into the world and I was here no longer than a few moments and I was labeled, placed into a category. They, the doctor and nurses pointed to my genitals, a sign of my biological sex, and pronounced me as a boy. This social label of boy is now my gender. I am treated according to my gender, have been socialized, that is taught to act in masculine ways, and express myself in ways that are characteristic of being a boy.
To bring my life together with some type of order, I will use the intersectionality approach to illustrate how my social characteristics, that is my ascribe social statuses, which I was born into, have placed into social locations that allow me some privilege as well as some disadvantage. As stated above; I was labeled a male, and this means that I have to act in certain manners, for if I do not act masculine; I will be breaking a gendered norm and will be sanctioned, that is punished for my non-masculine behaviors. I remember growing up with my two sisters and being placed into dresses when we would play house. One Sunday afternoon, when we arrived home from church, my sisters proceeded to dress me up while mom got dinner on the table. Mom gave us a five minute warning to get ready for dinner and before we knew it, it was time to go downstairs. I was only about 4 at this time, so I trotted downstairs with the dress and bonnet on not thinking anything was wrong. There I sat at the table as my dad walked in with one of his business associates with him. His eyes got big and I could tell he was angry, but I really didnt understand until he excused me, my sisters and himself.
Boy, did we get it! He spoke to us sternly and told me that little boys werent to wear dresses under any circumstances. With that my oldest sister contributed that men is
Scotland wear skirts and the men in the middle east wear what look like dresses. My father became very silent and I as well as my sisters thought that surely he was going to blow, but instead he cleared his throat told Cass that she was correct about the way other cultures dress and told them that if he ever found out that they dressed his son in girls clothing again that they would be grounded until they were 18 years of age.
My label of male, has given me a certain privilege. Growing up with sisters I saw a lot of things that I did not quite understand, but now that I am older, I have a clearer picture of how parents socialize us to act male or female. Growing up with sisters, I got to do much more than they got to do. I went out more, stayed out longer, and was allowed to go places mom and dad would never let me sisters go. But being male also had its downside. Emotional scripts, the ways in which we handle our emotions, do by and large come from how our family allows us to express our selves. Anytime my sisters got hurt physically or emotionally, dad and mom would tell them its ok to cry, “get it all out” and cry and dad would put his arm around them and tell them he would hurt any one who hurt me. If I got hurt, I was told to suck it up and be tough and to deny my pain.
Another ascribe characteristic I was born into is my parents social class, which reflects the amount of money and lifestyle my family had. When I was growing up, I always thought that we were middle class, like everyone else. It appeared that we had everything we needed and wanted. One major advantage is that I was given the opportunity to go to a private elementary and high school. I was given a full ride scholarship to prestigious four-year universality, so some would say that I was very privileged. One disadvantage that experienced was the fact that school came very easily for me, so studying was not a priority. This also is the reason I am at a community
college. I had the resources to play and party, but in utilizing those resources in that manner I set up myself up to fail academically.
My family also gave me privilege in teaching how to fit into the dominant culture, by instilling in me norms, values, beliefs, language, as well as vocabulary that allows me to decode society. These things make up what sociologists call cultural capital. This capital allows me an understanding of how to interact and communicate with others around me. Learning about culture, the totality of learned social transmitted behaviors, through lived experiences has allowed me to learn the norms of society that allow me to be successful. One social norm is going to school to get an education; so I attended school and was able to make good enough grades to go into college. Education is also something my parents valued. A value is something a society deems as good/desirable or bad/undesirable. So since they valued it, they taught me it was a good thing and to put forth my best effort towards, which I did in high school, but seemed to have forgotten in college until the opportunity to attend was almost taken away.
My parent also taught me how to work hard, which has helped me, be as accomplished as I am. They didnt hand everything to me and made me work for my first car and some of the trendy clothes I wanted when I was in high school. Even though I learned to work hard I may have actually been disadvantaged because all the money that I earned as a teenager, which I spent at my whim, so I never really understood the value of money, until I was on my own and penniless.
I can look back now at how my peers, those who share my characteristics of age and interests, influenced my anticipatory socialization process. During adolescences and young adulthood, my friends really allowed me to learn how to gain status, though
actions as well as what not to do to loose status. In my sophomore year of high school, I and a bunch of my friends got our drivers license. It was all about who had the biggest engine, the coolest slicks, and the fastest car. We were in a constant competition with one another to get the coolest car. I know that I spent every dime I earned for at least a two-year period on my SS Nova. During the summers I held down three part-time jobs just in order to make enough money to get what I wanted for that car. I even started to hang out with a different group, who were older and who actually showed their cars in regional and national car shows.
At that point, during my senior year, I started to loss friendships because of my car obsession. Many of my friends were busy applying for colleges and some of my friends acted almost jealous that I had this fine car. My best friend since before preschool, during our senior year completely stopped talking with me because he thought I was too intense about my car. I confronted him during our senior picnic and he told me he just didnt get it- “all