A Day in the Life
I wake up at 4:45 am in the morning to fix my fiancé, Josh, breakfast and pack his lunch. He allows me to stay at home with our kids and not work so I can complete school so I do what I can to help provide for him. This role is important because he is our provider so in return I provide for him. This demonstrates a functionalist society. A functionalist society is one that demonstrates everyone plays a part in order to function.
As I am cooking breakfast Josh‘s mom enters the kitchen and says a simple good morning. I can tell she is tired and that seeing me in my pajamas every morning while she has to get ready for work is not very appealing. She always makes gestures on how lucky I am to be able to stay home. My status in this situation was one of a child. She is like a mother figure to me and even though I am not her daughter she still treats me as I am one. His mother also does not make enough money to afford staying home. Josh makes a decent amount of money so we economically can afford to stay home. She also makes reference to how a few of my other young friends also get to stay home with their children. This assumes my role in a social stratification. Social stratification is the classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions.
Josh leaves for work and takes his lunch and breakfast with him. He kisses me goodbye. Although we are not married we live together and play the roles of married people. This is against social norm especially in the church because according to the bible we are not supposed to live together until marriage. Social norms are the accepted behaviors in a society. My ascribed status at birth was one of a female. I have taken on the female role and am responsible for cooking, cleaning, laundry, raising my children and caring for my fiancé. This is also referred to as gender socialization. Gender socialization refers to the learning of behavior and