Class & Culture: How Do We Navigate Them?

Welcome back! Congrats on surviving life since my last post! My roommate and I were discussing how this week sorta evaporated in front of our eyes. Haha, I honestly cannot remember what all I did throughout this week. Anyone else feel that?? Anyhow, let's get into it! For this post, I want to discuss social class and familial culture. Specifically, I want to dive into the information I've observed through my studies and experiences, and how to understand, navigate, and change views about classes and cultures. 

I read an interesting study this week discussing how immigration influenced Mexican family relationships. In my class we read it in, we participated in a role play where there were different family members. Some of the family members stayed in Mexico, and some of them immigrated to the United States. The number one reason families would immigrate was to provide better opportunities for their kids (education, learning English, variety of careers, etc.). Typically, the fathers of these families would immigrate first in order to find a job in America, and to provide a way for his family. The rest of his immediate family stayed in Mexico, and familial roles tended to shift in most of the families in the study. The mothers started to work full time jobs, sometimes up to two or three at a time. They become the main providers while their husbands were absent. Children in the home began to work sometimes as well. Children would also, because both parents were consistently absent, start rebelling and getting into unhealthy relationships and substances. Without an intact family (married mother and father present in the home), problems tend to arise in the children. It would take an average of a 3 years for the rest of the family to be able to immigrate, and when that did happen, their social class would typically lower to poverty in the states. There were conflicting feelings between all family members, and it took awhile for mom and dad to get used to each other and their roles again. Whether familie goes through dramatic life changes like immigrating, or go through minor life changes, it affects the family culture.

This week, I have thought a lot about getting out of "the bubble" I live in. Not that living in Rexburg isn't enjoyable and where I'm supposed to be right now, I just desire to travel outside of my own culture to discover all different kinds of living. A few summers ago, I was lucky enough to travel to New York and New Jersey with my immediate family. I observed first hand the different culture and classes there. One of my favorite experiences there was serving alongside the Salvation Army for the day. We prepared and delivered meals to people on the streets and in their homes. It was a truly humbling experience, because I discovered joy even in the poorest of homes. I learned about their lives and their families, and it was refreshing to discover different and still effective ways of functioning in a home with family.

To wrap this all up, I want to address an important question: How can one carefully choose the aspects of one's culture to keep, and how do we perpetuate those into coming generations? This is a task that absolutely requires intentionality. Intentionality in discovering and digging into your own family cultures. Talking through what you and what your spouse liked and how you want that to look in your future family. Incorporating your own new and unique culture that you desire in your home is another aspect to start thinking about, even when you are not yet married. Lastly, think about cultural and traditional aspects that you want to change/eliminate.  Write those down. Start practicing NOW.