Applied Sociology and Your Family
Applied Sociology and Your Family
Anne Lucas
Harrison College
Sociology
Jenifer Stevens
February 10, 2013
Applied Sociology and Your Family The applying applied sociology into your family topic appealed to me for many reasons. As a parent I constantly worry about the affect my parenting choices will have on my daughter. I always second guess my decisions and often wonder if she thinks I am a good mother. I want to do right by my daughter by making sure she is getting what she needs from me, in order to have a healthy self-esteem and self-worth. After all “overall research suggests, nothing is more likely to produce a happy, well-adjusted child than a loving family” (Gibbs, 2001). The biggest reason this topic appealed to me though isn’t because I want to validate my parenting style, but because we just moved in with my boyfriend and his daughter making us a newly blended family. So far everything that I have read on blended families has given me a dim outlook on what is going to be a long adjustment period for everyone involved. I am curious to see how this applied approach will help me better understand the dynamic of this new family of ours.
In chapter 3, socialization is defined as the “social experiences by which people develop their human potential and learn culture” (Macionis, 2011, p. 68). In this chapter we learn that the first setting of socialization for a child is their family. The family has the greatest impact on attitudes and behaviors. The family gives the child social identity. “It is usually the family that children learn skills, values, and beliefs from just simply by the type of environment the adults have created around them. The quality of the surroundings provided by parents and other close caregivers to young children will determine whether children learn to see themselves as strong or weak, smart or stupid, loved or simply tolerated” (Macionis, 2011, p. 75.) This is particularly important for me because when blending two
Anne Lucas
Harrison College
Sociology
Jenifer Stevens
February 10, 2013
Applied Sociology and Your Family The applying applied sociology into your family topic appealed to me for many reasons. As a parent I constantly worry about the affect my parenting choices will have on my daughter. I always second guess my decisions and often wonder if she thinks I am a good mother. I want to do right by my daughter by making sure she is getting what she needs from me, in order to have a healthy self-esteem and self-worth. After all “overall research suggests, nothing is more likely to produce a happy, well-adjusted child than a loving family” (Gibbs, 2001). The biggest reason this topic appealed to me though isn’t because I want to validate my parenting style, but because we just moved in with my boyfriend and his daughter making us a newly blended family. So far everything that I have read on blended families has given me a dim outlook on what is going to be a long adjustment period for everyone involved. I am curious to see how this applied approach will help me better understand the dynamic of this new family of ours.
In chapter 3, socialization is defined as the “social experiences by which people develop their human potential and learn culture” (Macionis, 2011, p. 68). In this chapter we learn that the first setting of socialization for a child is their family. The family has the greatest impact on attitudes and behaviors. The family gives the child social identity. “It is usually the family that children learn skills, values, and beliefs from just simply by the type of environment the adults have created around them. The quality of the surroundings provided by parents and other close caregivers to young children will determine whether children learn to see themselves as strong or weak, smart or stupid, loved or simply tolerated” (Macionis, 2011, p. 75.) This is particularly important for me because when blending two
References: Applied Sociology. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.appliedsoc.org/applied-sociology/ Gibbs, Nancy. “What Kids (Really) Need.” Time. (April 30, 2001): 48-49. Macionis, J.J. (2011). Society the basics. New Jersey: Upper Saddle River.