poverty and social structure
Although the United States is one of the richest countries in the world many of it's people sleep in the streets, dig through garbage cans to find food, and carry all that they own in this world on their backs or in shopping carts. These people are known as the homeless. Recently I had the opportunity of helping, and at the same time being educated by one of the members of this unfortunate group. I was able to experience first hand how a homeless person thinks and feels through an intimate means of communications popularly known as writing notes. Why writing notes? Because the individual that I invited into my home and fed was both deaf and mute. He was male, middle aged, and of African American decent. Needless to say it was a "conversation" unlike any I have ever had. In this paper, I plan to detail the observations I made during our interaction, specifically addressing how social structures form a key element in both the lives of the affluent and indigent. I met Reggie through some of my friends. He was homeless and in need of help. One night he knocked on my door and wrote on his piece of paper, "may I come in?" I nodd
The family forms a microstructure that produces both economic support and opportunities. The extent of economic support is primarily determined by the financial status of the family. The more affluent one's family the greater amount of resources it has to assure that the basic needs of its members are fulfilled. This has a determining impact on children from a young age. Being born in a poor family significantly affects a child's necessity to obtain employment, working hours, future education, earnings, stress, and lifestyle choices. These factors combine to make class mobility difficult at best. The dynamics of an individual's family significantly affect his/her life chances. An affluent family will more than likely be involved in a social network consisting of many other prominent, wealthy families. The ramifications of these associations will effect all areas of an individual's life. Most importantly, they will provide many options for aggrandizement in these areas. Coming from a low-income family, Reggie did not have the option to receive an education that would allow him to learn to overcome his genetic flaws and communicate effectively. When he was faced with a crisis situation economically, his family did not have the resources to help him, nor did the poor families in his neighborhood with whom the family associated. Although Reggie began to move upward upon moving to Utah, he discovered that even the people with the love of Christ could not be of absolute help. This brings me to another social network, religious associations. When individuals form networks or groups they tend to associate with those who are like them. Equity theory explains this by claiming that people are most satisfied with a relationship when the ratio between benefits and contributions is similar for both partners. This would infer that networks would exist between those within a specific class but not across classes. By forming associations with those of equitable status, the rich form a very supportive network and the poor form a network that can sympathize with their situation at best. Networks are vital to class mobility in that they are critical
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1458
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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