Social Structure

All throughout civilization, there are social structures that shape and affect all aspects of life, thus consisting of a correlation of race, social-class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and so on. Furthermore, each one of these structures has a considerably different impact and implication towards individuals belonging to a certain society. Throughout the years, my family and I have fought and struggled to slowly be able to move up the social ladder. As a result, my family has now been able to live a middle-class lifestyle. Still, the struggle to obtain that status was difficult to say the least, since my family had grown up under poor circumstances. I believe I come from a generation that went under perpetual transformation, which
We lived in a two-bedroom apartment for a couple years with my grandparents, while my dad was able to save up for a house. Nonetheless, I had just turned five years old when my parents were able to buy a new car and their first house together. My parents finally had a place to call their own and my grandparents ended up moving in with one of their other children. About a year later, my parents were financially stable and decided to have another child. It as was then that my grandparents moved in with us to help around the house and with the baby. My grandparents had struggled most of their life and were pleased to see one of their children building a better life for themselves and family. Although my mother didn’t go to college after high school or have a job anymore, she was the woman of the house and had to tend to all the family needs. That being said, I remember on my sixth birthday, I looked up to my father and considered him a hero, someone I wish to be like when I grew up. However, about a year later, my father started getting into drugs and heavy drinking. I was seven years old and can still recall nights where he would stumble in the front door and immediately argue with my mother. Every time I heard my father open the door, I would rush over to seek comfort from my grandma. I didn’t’ quite understand what was going on at the time,
My mother had been domestically abused by my father for a number of months and she didn’t want us living under these circumstances. To this day, my parents divorce has been one of the most significant moments in my life that has left an impact and took me by surprise. I still remember the house and the last foot steps I took out, while looking back at the first house my parents worked so hard to get. While my father was at work, my mom had me pack what ever I could fit in my ninja turtle back pack and told me we we’re going to Disneyland. I knew something didn’t seem right and insisted that we wait for my father, but was told he was going to meet us there. It was then that the taxi driver pulled up and picked me up and sat me in the back seat. It wasn’t until a couple weeks later, when my mother told me I wasn’t going to see my father anymore. It was then that I knew I was burdened with taking over the male role in the family, the ideology of growing up to be the “machismo” in the family. For months my mother struggled to provide for us, but with the help of my grandparents was able to barely get by. I learned to do things around the house by watching my grandfather and helping him with anything and everything. I was only eight years old at the time, but I considered myself a man and I needed to do manly things. However, since my