Social Location and Life Chances

My social location as an African American, raised in a working-class family, certainly frames access to opportunity in my life. I can afford public education and sub-basic health care, but economic and racial disparities restrict my access to opportunities. According to Conerly et al. (2021), life chances are the equal opportunities an individual has to attain financial well-being, health, education and other desirable values. I have had to be resilient, having always had it against me, being both my place-based and racial experience of navigating systemic barriers in these areas: Social Location and Life Chances.

In contrast, my character, a 16-year-old Somali American girl living in a low-income St. Paul neighborhood, faces multiple levels of oppression based on her class, race, immigration status and gender. She is a first-generation immigrant taking care of her siblings while her single mom works, and her educational opportunities and social mobility are limited. Such cumulative deprivation intersecting disadvantage also has significant consequences for her life chances, such as being held back by the lack of a common language and low cultural expectations that may limit her future development despite strong familial obligations and potential resilience.

Socialization and Norms

My family, school, and media have been major agents of socialization. Growing up in a predominantly African American community taught me the values of independence, respect and tenacity. Media reinforced my understanding of success and identity, and school reinforced conformity, discipline and expectations of society.

According to Conerly et al. (2021), the term socialization means the lifelong process through which people learn their culture’s norms, values, and beliefs. Despite system obstacles, these influences formed my outlook and feelings of self-advocacy and aspiration toward upward mobility.

Similarly, the fictional character is shaped primarily by family and school, but her Somali heritage and immigrant status influence her experience. Her family teaches collectivism, obedience and caretaking responsibilities, while American cultural values such as individualism and ambition are introduced at school. She doesn’t have the kind of heavy handed media influence I have, nor has she been as religiously socialized and thus has few external moral guideposts. These divergent norms create tension between her family obligations and her desire for personal aspirations, creating a worldview grounded in duty and determination.

Deviance, Control, and Inequality

In high school, I disagreed with an uncomfortable comment made by a teacher and was called disruptive. What I did, demanding fairness was deviant because it violated the norm of passive acceptance of authority. According to Conerly et al. (2021), deviance violates norms and arouses adverse social reactions.

The school system enforced control through detention and social isolation in this case. Power functioned as an institutional authority, and my actions were judged through the filter of racial inequality and punished to a degree not possible in some potential version of an alternate reality.

In the case of my character, deviant behavior may arise from refusal to comply with typical gender roles as projected by Somali society. She would be seen as going against the caretaking duties and claims of care that bind her to her family and community if she speaks up for her education. Her school may not label it deviant, but her home life likely would.

The unequal power between elders and youth, along with gender expectations, reinforces control. This demonstrates how deviance is culturally specific and socially constructed, based on the  normative power of family versus school.

Gender, Sexuality, and Power

In my life, traditional gender roles have shaped expectations around behavior, appearance, and career goals. As an African American woman, I have felt the expectations of being nurturing, emotionally intense, polished, and composed. These expectations often limit vulnerability and leadership opportunities.

According to Conerly et al. (2021), gender roles  refer to social norms or social expectations about behavior and attitudes based on a person’s sex. Despite all the avenues feminism has opened, I have still suffered under this unfair treatment in both school and work, frustrated and stubbornly captive to these social constructs.

For my character, gender roles are still tighter. As a Somali teenage girl, she is expected to prioritize the duties of caregiving and obedience over personal freedom. Her society may not have norms that advocate for freedom and sexual freedom to talk about them openly to explore identity.

Unlike myself, she does not have gender equality policies yet. This limits her options, widens the power rifts between men and women, and clarifies how those intersectional oppressions affect her lived experiences far more potently.

Imagination and Transformation

Viewing the issue through a sociological lens taught me three essential lessons. First, personal and collective struggles arise from and are deeply entangled with social structures. Second, deviance is not fixed; it’s contextual, a product of power and culture. Third, identities are socialized differently across race, class, and gender.

As Conerly et al. (2021) suggest,  sociological imagination makes it possible to view the relationship between individual lives and the workings of the social order. This comparative process showed that neither my life nor my character’s life exists in a vacuum since systemic factors shape both.

For society to improve the conditions for people like my character or myself to have better lives, inclusive policies and institutions must be invested in. Schools require culturally responsive assistance to support immigrant and first-generation students. Mental health services and flexible childcare could help relieve young caregivers.

Workplace equity and anti-racism education can offer opportunities to people like me. In the end, meaningful change is about removing structural barriers so that background does not determine destiny.

References

Conerly, T. R., Holmes, K., & Tamang, A. L. (2021). Introduction to Sociology 3e. Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University.

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Textbook: Conerly, TR., Holmes K, Tamang AL, et al. (2021). Introduction to Sociology 3E. Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University

Assignment: The Lives We Live

Objective:
This assignment serves as a capstone opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to think sociologically by comparing your own lived experiences with those of the fictional character you’ve developed throughout the course. Drawing upon major themes from across the semester, particularly those related to stratification, socialization, deviance, gender, and power, you will reflect on how personal biography and social structures intersect to shape life outcomes. By placing your own narrative in conversation with that of your imagined character, you will extend your engagement with core course concepts and develop a more robust understanding of how inequality and social forces function.

By completing this assignment, you will be able to:
● Apply key sociological concepts to both real and fictional contexts.
● Use the sociological imagination to explore the relationship between personal experience and social structure.
● Compare and contrast individual lives across different social positions.
● Demonstrate awareness of systemic inequality and the potential for social change.
● Practice clear academic writing and APA 7th edition formatting.

Social Location and Life Chances

Assignment Description:
Using yourself and your fictional character as focal points, write a 3-4 page analysis (double-spaced, standard formatting) that addresses the following:
1. Social Location and Life Chances:
Reflect on your own social location (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, geographic background) and compare it with that of your character. How have these dimensions shaped your respective access to education, employment, health care, or opportunity?
2. Socialization and Norms:
Consider how you and your character were shaped by agents of socialization (family, school, media, religion, etc.). Where do you see similarities? Where do you see divergence? How have norms influenced your worldviews differently?
3. Deviance, Control, and Inequality:
Identify moments, real or hypothetical, where deviance or nonconformity shaped experience. Who defined the behavior as deviant? What role did institutions (e.g.,
schools, legal systems, employers) play in enforcing norms? How do power and inequality figure into these moments?
4. Gender, Sexuality, and Power:
How have gender roles, sexual norms, or expectations about masculinity/femininity operated in both your life and your character’s? Reflect on the limits or privileges each of you may have experienced based on social constructions of gender and sexuality.
5. Imagination and Transformation:
Consider the value of sociological thinking in making sense of the world. What insights emerged through this comparative process? What kinds of societal or institutional changes might improve life outcomes for someone like your character – or someone like you?
You are expected to incorporate and cite at least three course concepts or definitions from throughout the textbook. Use proper APA 7th edition in-text citations and a reference list. Your work should demonstrate both critical self-reflection and analytical rigor.

Deliverable:
Submit a 3-4 page paper (double-spaced, 12-pt Times New Roman, APA 7th Edition formatting) organized into the following clearly labeled sections:
● Social Location and Life Chances
● Socialization and Norms
● Deviance and Power
● Gender and Identity
● Reflection and PossibilityBe sure to draw explicitly from course concepts and sociological frameworks discussed in class and in your readings. No outside sources are required, though you may incorporate them if relevant.Assessment Criteria:

Your submission will be evaluated on:
● Comparative Insight: Depth of analysis in comparing self and character across multiple social dimensions.
● Sociological Application: Effective use of sociological concepts and course material throughout the analysis.
● Critical Self-Reflection: Honest and thoughtful engagement with your own social location and its implications.
● Writing and Structure: Clear academic writing, logical organization, and strong transitions between sections.
● APA Formatting: Proper use of APA 7th edition in-text citations and reference formatting.

Submission Details:
● Due Date: Sunday, June 22nd at 11:59 PM
● Submission Format: Upload as a Microsoft Word document or PDF to the D2L
Assignment Folder “Assignment #3 – The Lives We Live”
● Formatting Required: APA 7th Edition