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What into someone social stratification. i interviewed two

Whatis race? Race is defined as a group of persons related by common descent orheredity (Dictionary). Many notice this as color of skin or where you wereborn. The differences in race, class, gender is what make the position of anindividual in society. In our textbook race is defined as “ a category of peoplewho have been singled out as inferior or superior, often based on real oralleged physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other subjectively selected attributes” (Kendall, 2013, p 296). A variety ofpeople believe that race and ethnicity are the same when they are not. Race, class, and gender all plays into someone social stratification.

I interviewedtwo individuals from different race and ethnicity and different class andgender. These individuals both came from a different walk of life.            The first person I interviewed was anadmission administrative for SouthUniversity Columbia campus.

The person I interviewed was a woman which isAfrican American in race and African in ethnicity. Ethnicity is defined as thefact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national orcultural tradition (Dictionary). Our textbook define ethnicity as “ a collectionof people distinguished, by others or by themselves, primarily based oncultural or nationality characteristics” (Kendall, 2013, p 296). Her name isCarmellita Outten. Based on Mrs. Outten background she came from a low-classfamily but has now made her way towards being middle class today. She explainedshe had many struggles throughout her years and wanted to help people get intoschool. According to out book today middle class is two-year or four-yearcollege degrees have replaced the high school diploma as an entry-levelrequirement for employment in many middle-class occupations (Kendall, 2013, p 219).

When applying for college she helps students get all the resources and so muchinformation about the school. Mrs. Outten also exhibited social mobility. Social mobility is defined movement of individuals or groups from one level ina stratification system to another (Kendall, 2013, p 212).

With her being amiddle-class person, her job is to help people get into school and they cangraduate and obtain middle class or upper-class jobs. She explained saying” middle class can have their ups and downs but its how you get through it andmake it the best it can be you will be fine”. She explained her race played asignificant role into her life because she is African American, but she isextremely light skin, and many people always take her for being mixed or justbeing Caucasian.  At her place of workher office has moved into a different location as if she is more experiencedthan other admissions administrative. With her being a female, she explained asif some things were just handed to her because of her being a woman.             As far as social perspective Ibelieve the symbolic interaction best describes Carmellita’s life. Symbolicinteraction focuses the study of sociology on the daily interactions of peoplewithin larger society. Symbolicinteractionism is micro-level because it looks at our behaviors in specificsituations (Kendall, 2013, p 21).

I choose symbolic interaction because she hada challenging time growing up and was in the low class she decided to becomesomeone that can help people get into school and have a better life forthemselves and obtain a great education. She helps with the first step intogetting a better education and then its up to the person to make it all the waythrough. Theorists uses this perspective focus on the process of interactions definedas immediate reciprocally oriented communication between two or more people andthe part that symbols play in communication. A symbol is anything thatmeaningfully represents something else. Examples include signs, gestures, written language, and shared values. Symbolic interaction occurs when peoplecommunicate using symbols (Kendall, 2013, p 21).

The second person I interviewed isHayward Thompson. Hayward is a friend of my father for a very long time. Haywood works at a truck stop but during his free time he love to give back tothe community by helping with toy drives around Christmas and aroundthanksgiving helping to give out plates to the homeless and less fortunatepeople.

Haywood is a low-class man or working class. Working class is defined by those who sell their laborto the owners to earn enough money to survive. An estimated 30 percent of theU. S. population is in the working class, which is characterized by an annualincome in the $40, 000 range.

Today, many in theworking class are employed in the service sector as clerks, sales- people, andfast-food workers whose job responsibilities involve routine, mechanized tasksrequiring little skill beyond basic literacy and a brief period of on-the-jobtraining (Kendall, 2013, p 220). His race is African American, and ethnicity isAfrican. Hayward has no children and his wife passed away a couple of yearsago. He decided with is free time when he is off work to give back to peoplegoing to several types of organizations. Being a working class African Americanman people may think he’s committed some type of crime or he just doesn’t looklike a person who would give back and try to help other people especially whenthey less fortunate themselves.              These factors play a role in his stratification.

Based on the sociological perspective Mr. Thompson best fits in the social conflict interaction. Social conflict isdefined by norms and laws that exist to support the current inequalities thosein power have the ability and resources to control society (Kendall, 2013, p 18). I choose social conflict due to the fact the norms of his history and whatpeople in his social organization seem accurate is what he observed.

He says,” when you give back you will always get something in return, you may never knowwhere it came from but always see it as a blessing”. From that stand point Iagreed with him. He said, “ since he doesn’t have no children he wants to put asmile on other children’s faces”. This sociological perspective shows us that Haywardfollows the norms of his culture and exceeded to become a respectable working-classman.

The stratifiers are playing a leading role for Mr. Thompson. This is dueto him being of male gender, which in some places are consider inferior towomen and his position in the working class makes him well respected in thecommunity because usually people that are already less fortunate don’t usuallygive back or do special things for the community. Based on his culture and the norms, Hayward knew whathe was doing was something from the heart. Hayward gained prestige through hischallenging work and dedication. Prestige is defined as the respect or regardsthat someone or status position is given (Dictionary).

He stated, “ when I firststarted joining these events I felt like an alien like I wasn’t in the rightplace at the right time”. This can be described in the term alienation. Alienation is defined as a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from otherpeople and from oneself (Dictionary).

Thiswould explain his acceptance of the way his life was set up to be.             For an interview there are many prosand cons. An interview is a data-collection encounter in which an interviewerasks the respondent questions and records the answers (Kendall, 2013, p 41). The pros to an interview is you get better information from being face to facewith the person. Another reason is you would know the information you’regetting is credible. When doing an interview you would have something to quotethem on something that is coming directly from that person’s mouth. A con is itcan be time consuming.

You might have a set time on how much time you want totake but you may go over that limit. The questions might also be difficult forthe person to answer. Even though the source is credible the person may or maynot be telling the truth while answering the questions. When conducting aninterview, one must make sure that respondents must be screened as appropriateand questions must be structured to the specific topic.

In conclusion I haveinterviewed two people I know that contributes to society. I explained theirrace, gender, and class and how it affects them in society. I also haveexplained which social perspective best explains their life and why I choosethat perspective. By interviewing these two individuals, I was able todetermine race, ethnicity, class and social stratification. Mrs. Outten and Mr. Thompson come from the same backing but now are in two different class. Regardless of what class they are in they both do something for the community

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