Term Paper on "Anthro I Am a White Male"

Quoted Instructions for "Anthro I Am a White Male" Assignment:

(I am a white middle class male in my 20's)

In this writing assignment, you are being asked to discuss your social status relative to others in your community (or micro-culture) in a single essay of approximately 5-7 typewritten, double-spaced pages. Your essay should incorporate the three general tasks listed below. This is not to be written as three separate mini-essays. The three tasks are to be incorporated in a comprehensive, seamless essay that defines your community and your place within it.

1. Your first task is to define your community. We all belong to multiple communities (or micro-cultures/subcultures). List six communities to which you belong at the beginning of your essay, but choose one on which you want to focus the body of your paper.

A community is a group of people with whom you share experience, values, and identity. When you explain yourself to some one you don*****t know, membership in this community should be one of the things you mention. When you are in touch with some one from this community, whether or not you know them personally, you typically should feel a sense of connection and know that this person understands something significant about your life without your having to explain yourself in detail. For example, if you define your community as those who have played competitive college football, when you meet some one who has done the same, even if they did not play on your team, you will know that that person has experienced many of the same challenges and accomplishments you have.

Your community could be the group of people with whom you share the neighborhood in which you grew up or in which you now live. . Particularly for this essay, a community is not merely a geographic place, but the people who live in a particular place. A community could be defined according to a number of factors. Some common factors are:

*****¢ Native or First Language *****¢ National origin (also, first, second, or third generation in U.S.) *****¢ Ethnicity *****¢ Gender *****¢ Age *****¢ Religious Affiliation *****¢ Political Perspective (Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal; also, Pro- or Anti-positions - for example, those people opposed to Hillary ***** for President) *****¢ Economic class (lower, working class, middle, upper) *****¢ Profession *****¢ Education *****¢ Passionate interests (music, sports, art, automobiles, collecting, gardening, photography, accumulating wealth, accumulating material goods, etc.) *****¢ Location in which you live or grew up *****¢ Marital status (single, divorced, multiple divorces) *****¢ Parental Marital Status (divorced, non-divorced) *****¢ Health status (cancer survivor, etc.)

There are a number of factors not listed here. It is your task to identify the factors that define your community. Do this through careful self examination. As you do so, keep in mind that it is likely that your community will represent some combination of factors, not just a single aspect of your life. It is also possible that your community will be defined by a single, powerful shared experience *****“ for example serving in the Iraq War or living and working as a struggling actor.

As you define your community, the essential question to ask yourself is whether you share a common identity with all of the people in the group you identify, whether or not you know them personally or have even met them. If not, you should refine your community so that it reflects the group with whom you have some sort of meaningful shared experience. Limit the size of the group to the people with whom you identify strongly *****“ for example, the veterans of the Iraq War who saw ground combat and were injured, as opposed to all of those who served in the U.S. military during time of the War. Also, in the course of your essay consider whether your community is a primary or secondary social group. 2. Whatever you define as your community, your second task is to define the system of social status within that community. Status is defined by levels of respect, authority, and access to resources. In some communities, levels of respect, authority, and resource access may be determined very much by wealth, but even if this is so, there are almost always important factors besides wealth. You may have to look beyond the surface to see them, but once you do, you will probably see that there are many factors affecting status. For example, you might tell me in your essay one*****s status in that community is defined as upper, middle, or lower class solely by income. You might say that income determines which restaurants one can visit and what car one drives. This may be true. Income may be a very important factor in your community, but I suggest that if you look closely, you will see that status in your community is, in fact, determined by a variety of other factors. Consider the following questions as you consider the issue of social status in your community.

*****¢ Into how many classes is your community divided? Whether there are two, three, or more social classes in your community, define them and the factors that differentiate high from medium-status people and medium from low-status people. Remember, a person*****s social status is defined by his or her standing in the community to which they belong. This can be based on the status of the family into which one is born, the economic standing of that family, one*****s gender, an individual*****s personal earnings, one*****s educational background, the degree to which a person follows religious teachings, a person*****s interpersonal skills, one*****s physical skills (e.g., being an athlete), a person*****s musical or other artistic talent, one*****s cleverness, and even personal skills, such as the ability to tell jokes.

*****¢ What are the symbols of membership in the various social classes in your community? Here and in the previous section, do not confuse symbols with the factors that determine social status. What symbols define membership in one class or another in your community *****“ a style of speech, living on a certain street or in a specific area, a style of dress, a type of jewelry, or perhaps membership in an organization or club?

*****¢ To what degree is status ascribed in your community and to what degree is it achieved? Define how the terms *****achieved***** and *****ascribed***** relate to different aspects of you community. What types of accomplishment confer achieved status? What specifically confers ascribed status? Keep in mind that social status is complex. It is normal in many communities for some aspects of social status to be ascribed and others achieved. is there social mobility? If there is mobility, do people change social status easily or with difficulty? What factors permit mobility?

3. Your third and final task in your essay is to define how you fit into the social pattern you describe. As you do so, please consider the following questions:

*****¢ Are you low, middle, or upper class in your community?

*****¢ Specifically, how do you stand relative to others with respect to the factors you define as determining class in your community *****“ such as earnings and education (assuming you use them as factors)?

*****¢ What physical symbols, such as preferred music, hair style, clothing, and jewelry, do you use to signal your status to others?

*****¢ What behavioral symbols of respect are shown in your community to those with significant status *****“ giving some one a preferred place at a table, listening closely when some one speaks, seeking a person*****s opinion on important matters, letting them make final decisions on important matters?

*****¢ Are you happy with your status? Do you intend to move up in your community?

*****¢ If you do intend to change your status, is your plan of action for change long-term or short-term and how long do you think it will take to effect a change?

*****¢ Specifically, what is your plan of action to bring about this change?