My Life & Social Categories Essay

In order to examine how sociological factors have influenced my life, I need to consider the social categories that I encompass and assess their impact on my life. The social categories that will be discussed in this paper include socio-economic status, religious background, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and position in global social structure. Actually, these social categories are important for my experiences because the self is shaped by different subjects that are connected with these social categories. Utilizing the sociological lens, it is possible to assess the impacts of how social structure and social and cultural contexts affect my life. The social category I will place special emphasis on is gender. Gender can be defined as a social construction (Frable, 1997). My gender is male. I realize that men should be strong, brave and self-confident to achieve success in life; therefore, male gender is associated with strength, brevity, self-confidence.

Utilizing the sociological imagination and perspective, I can describe how this sociological category has guided my life choices and structured my life trajectory since my childhood. Being male means making concrete decisions based on life choices. My needs, feelings and forms of expression are  linked to my gender. In other words, I try to be self-sufficient in order to demonstrate my best qualities.  I am ready to risk my life and show how I can resolve complicated issues without anybody’s support.

My socio-economic status, religious background, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation play an important role in the development of male gender. Indian culture requires that men are responsible for their families. Hence, I feel strong enough to make important decisions that affect my family. I come from middle -income family; therefore, I know how to earn money and how to save money in order to avoid poverty. My sexual orientation is traditional. I am heterosexual because I believe the men should never change their traditional orientation. My sexual orientation does nit put me in danger because I have a good understanding of the need to be masculine. Researchers suggests that gender, racial, ethnic, sexual, and class identities can be assessed as multidimensional and personalized social constructions that affect the individual’s current position (Frable, 1997). My gender does not make me feel isolated because I am supported by other males, both at home and at work. Stein & Plummer (1994) believe that   feminism shapes homosexuality. I do not support the idea of changing gender from male to female.

In addition,  the selected social category has influenced my behaviours and shaped by views on different things. Being male allows me to be brutal in some situations. My views on the world around me are shaped by my gender as well. I know that tension and anxiety lead to aggression. I try to avoid negative emotions in order to be self-confident in any situation. Being male allows me providing control over my emotions. Hence, I will never cry because I possess characteristics associated with male gender. Researchers state that male gender is less emotional than female gender (Sprecher & Sedikides, 1993). I believe that my gender is influential because it allows me to participate in interactions, develop confidence and take active role in social life due to task-oriented style.

Additionally, it becomes clear that this social category potentially influence my future outcomes. I am going to achieve the established career goals, personal goals and professional development goals. My race/ethnicity and religious background do affect my opportunities. I am Indian. Indians can be viewed as safe, not aggressive minority. I realize that minorities need support in social life because of existing inequalities. As an Indian man, I often face inequalities in the social context, but I try to cope with these challenges without external support. The fact that male gender influences my future outcomes both in profession and in family life means that I try to remain masculine to succeed in life. Religion gives me a chance to follow moral principles that contribute to fairness and independence. What I need is to continue maintaining my religious beliefs in order to avoid unethical decision and actions. Male gender helps me to develop positive attitudes toward women. 

Besides, I will be focused on sociological ideas like structure and opportunities; relationships and social perception. My gender affects the quality of relationships and social perception in some way or another. My socio-economic status has structured my opportunities. Although I have access to education, there may be some challenges associated with having access to the proper resources, such as new technologies. Anyway, I play a role of a leader if I work in team or group. I am focused on creativity because any man should have effective creative thinking to make morally right decisions. Undoubtedly, my religion supports me in selecting the proper strategies that can help to deal with unethical behaviour of other people, immoral judgement and other challenges. According to Post-structuralism, “subjects are not the autonomous creators of themselves or their social world” (Namaste,1994: 221).

Thus, it is necessary to conclude that gender is an important social category that affects an individual’s life. In my case, gender guides me in my decision making and problem solving. Gender as a social category has influenced my life trajectory as it allowed me to become a leader in any activity and select the proper strategies to deal with the challenges like racial inequality, social inequality and others. What is more important is that my gender continues to affect my sexual orientation which has privileged me as I strong, brave and self-confident person.

References

Frable, Deborrah E. S. 1997. “Gender, racial, ethnic, sexual, and class identities,”Annual Review of Psychology, 48: 139-163. https://msu.edu/~bartonf/wra135/Gender.pdf

Namaste, Ki. 1994. “The Politics of Inside/Out: Queer Theory, Post-structuralism, and a Sociological Approach to Sexuality,” Sociological Theory, 12(2): 220-231.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/97e4/2532af56e3bc364cfa737f5dc759d028eff8.pdf

Stein, Arlene & Plummer, Ken. 1994. “I Can’t Even Think Straight” “Queer” Theory and the Missing Sexual Revolution in Sociology,” Sociological Theory, 12(2): 178-187. http://webs.ucm.es/info/rqtr/biblioteca/Estudios%20gltb/I%20cant%20even%20think%20straight%20queer%20theory.pdf

Sprecher, S. & Sedikides, C. (1993). “Gender Differences in Perceptions of Emotionality: The Case of Close Heterosexual Relationships,” Sex Roles, 28(9/10): 511-531. http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~crsi/Sprecher%20%20Sedikides%201993%20(2).pdf

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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