Chp. 3: Family Diversity

Social Class

Category of people who share a common economic position in the stratified society in which they live.

Cultures of Poverty

Argument holding that poor people become trapped in poverty because of the values they hold and the behaviors in which they engage

Socioeconomic status

Individual’s or group’s position in a societal hierarchy determined by factors like income, education, and occupation

Upper-middle Class

Highly paid professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers) that are typically college educated and possess advanced degrees.

Middle Class

Larger portion of the population: white-collar service workers, educators, nurses, that have less education and social standing. Don’t have same sort of safety nets.

Working Class

Low-level white-collar and blue-collar occupations and typically have high school or vocational educations. Have jobs that offer little opportunity to move up and generate low levels of job satisfaction

Two-person career

One spouse’s career is supported by the other’s substantial, often non-paid, involvement in supporting the main earner.

Fictive kin ties

Extension of kinship-like status to neighbors and friends. Symbolizes commitment and willingness to help one another meet needs of daily life.

Social mobility

Movement up or down the social class ladder.

Social locations

An individual’s interconnected set of social identities, such as race, class, gender, sexuality, age and religion, and how these identities shape their access to resources, opportunities and power within a society’s structured systems.

Intersectionality

People are a combination of all their identities, and those identities together impact lived experiences.

Structural mobility

When large segments of a population experience upward or downward mobility resulting from changes in the society and economy.

Ethnic group

Set of people distinct from other groups because of cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, and customs.

Minority group

Designated because of their status which places them at economic, social and political disadvantage.

Racial Socialization

Racial minorities prepare their children to live in a society where they are likely to encounter racism and racial inequality. Parents attempt to prepare children for discrimination

Extended households

Households that contain several different generations.

Symbolic ethnicity

An ethnic identity that’s used only when the individual chooses. Has little effect on day-to-day life.

Minority Status

Unequal access to economic and political power.

Promotive socialization

Attempts to strengthen one’s child’s sense of self, self-confidence in one’s abilities, and cultural traditions and values. Encourages a colorblind worldview.

Protective socialization

Prepares children for potential discrimination experiences, and also pushes one’s child to stand up for one’s rights, exercise self control, and identify with one’s sense of self as a part of a racial group.

Passive racial socialization

Doing nothing to prepare one’s child for the possibility of discrimination.

Micro-aggressions

Brief, commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative slights and insults toward people of color.

Gender Identity

The internal experience and naming of gender that can correspond with or differ from assigned sex at birth

Gender expression

How gender is expressed in public forums (e.g., men wearing more feminine clothing, different hairstyles)

Sexual Orientation

Label one chooses to use (or not use) to describe who they are attracted to

• who they interact with sexually

• who they interact with emotionally

Is a scale/spectrum and can vary from individual to individual

Ability and Disability

Any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them

Visible disabilities

• paralysis

• down syndrome

• amputations

• tourette’s

• visual impairment

• hearing impairment

Invisible disabilities

• chronic pain

• autism

• traumatic brain injury

• mental illness

• ADHD

• Epilepsy

• PTSD

Often goes unnoticed or undiagnosed

Age

Number of years since birth. Generations places people in the life cycle

• groups identified by shared experiences (e.g., demographics, pop culture, historical events)

Diversity

Who is in the room?

What kinds of people - differing ethnicities (race, countries of origin, states, gender)

Equity

Who is trying to get into the room, but can’t get in and what can be done to get individuals into the room?

Societal factors like financial hardship and language barriers

Inclusion

Have everyone’s ideas been hear? Are people empowered

Inclusion: inequality

Unequal access to opportunities

Inclusion: Equality

Evenly distributed tools and assistance

Inclusion: Equity

Custom tools that identify and address inequality

Inclusion: Justice

Fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities

Assimilation

Pressure to be like everyone else

Good to create personal identity and beliefs (having balance, being yourself) in relationships

DEI and Justice can be difficult to talk about because:

• we don’t want to offend people

• some people benefit from inequity

• there are many different opinions and perspectives on it

Can learn a lot when being around people that are different to us