Sam Atchison   

How To Break The Boundaries of Socialisation 
By Sam Atchison
Socialization and Identity
Section 1 

  Socialization: is a process where a person learns there identify; his or her belief, values, norms and personal trait. This one of the most powerful forces of humanity. It is the process that creates the rules of our and every culture. If you think about different cultures you will notice the different rules. An example is, in some cultures cannibalism is a part of their religion and is accepted there, an example is the Korowai tribe in New Guinea. In other cultures, it is an extreme taboo and is looked on as strange, such as in America . These rules are created by socialization, this is how we are socialized and this creates our own stereotypes, gender roles, expectations, and the founding rules of society. I will be focusing on two of the stereotypes in America, one is the male gender role, and the second is the rules of classism. Both of these have affected me in ways different ways, my gender role as a man has always been pressed on to me and I've seen how my class affects me more and more as I grow,  these may not seem connected I believe that there is a good way to solve both of them, education. 

      How do you break the man box? The man box is a set of social norms that all “real men” abide by. You have to be tough, strong, courageous and much more to be accepted according to those rules. In the Ted Talk A Call To Men, Tony Porter describes that men are depicted by the man box as “dominating, no pain, no emotion, with the exception of anger, and definitely no fear. That man is in charge which means women are not, That men lead and you [women] should just follow, and do as they say. That man are superior and women are inferior.” Although Tony does not believe in this he is talking about the stereotypes men have been taught for generations; that we are superior. I have seen this first hand in elementary I can remember being called a girl and feeling hurt and ashamed. Somehow that has been considered socially acceptable for long enough that these stereotypes are extremely integrated into our society. Think for a second or any of these stereotypes true. But yet, they are still considered real. Tony also says “I remember speaking to a boy, a 12-year old football player. And I asked him, I said ‘How would you feel if in front of all the players your coach told you-you were playing like a girl? Now I expected him to say something like … ‘I’d be sad’: ‘I’d be angry’, or something like that. No, the boy said to me- the boy said to me ‘It would destroy me.’”

      Why are men called a girl as an insult? What kind of world is it, if a boy would be “destroyed” if he was called a girl? What are we teaching them about the women? We must break the cycle of the Man Box that puts men in a social prison but in which to break out is to be shunned. I have felt like this many times being a man in this 21st century. To break this we need to start to teach our children to be okay with emotion and to stop the subtleties that demean women With that and so much more, we can change these innuendos in America that create the social boundaries. we will finally be free. 

     Classism is one of the oldest boundaries in history and I’m confined to this by my class, I've always been viewed as middle class and because of that, I am very fortunate to be able to have the choice of what I do. it is difficult to see how little of the U.S. wealth goes to everybody else. Stated in the video Wealth Inequality in America “The lower 80% of Americans hold only 7% of the nation's wealth”. This statistic also shows that 1% of Americans, a minuscule part of the population, still holds 40%- almost half- of the American wealth in their pockets. Although it seems extreme to call this corruption, I believe that the American distribution of wealth is a very unjust system and doesn't give the lower class a way to escape the boundaries set by their socio-economic class. I have been socialized to classism by being middle class, when I grew up I dreamed that I could do anything but seeing the boundaries I realize that I can still do the things that I want to if I work hard and make good decisions. Now I see that some people won't be able to achieve their dreams because of their class. I've always known myself as middle class but seeing how fortunate I am and how much more wealth I hold that many of the other families I know has really put in perspective how wealth much the upper class holds and that we have so little influence on where we are in the class system, unable to break out.

I would say that gender discrimination is one of the biggest problems in the world. It affects almost every aspect of life: your job, schooling, pay, respect, and most importantly your self-image. With this continuing, we won't have so much as a hope to end oppression. But it isn't over yet we still have a chance to repair this and I believe it lies in education. We spent most of our time in school in our developmental stage, and if we are taught bias in these developmental stages it will stain us for the rest of our life, but if we are able to be more accepting in the education period we will not have those deep-set biases and it will help us become a more accepting nation. 

      The second boundary is classism the routes of this shoal boundary goes way back, so if it's that old, how do we stop it? The boundaries for these modern-day classes are not as clear as the older civilizations but they are still there. Think of the lower class: can only afford to use the public education, will get a high school diploma and will join the workforce with a minimum wage job that will keep his children in the same cycle of being lower class. Then the middles class you will be put through the standard education and after high school, a good chance of college will probably be in a middle-class college. Then the upper class. Will afford a great private school for the kids, will put them through the best high schools around then go to an Ivy league school to rise up in the industry. 

      Is this fair? My answer would be no, to fix this will be nigh impossible, but it is possible to make it better and I believe that starts with education, If we can make good education available to all the classes we will be able to give more opportunities to more people with will give them the chance to escape their previous classes and be able to make a name for themselves.We can work to break this chain. And with gender, this world has made many people free to be more free and expressive but in a certain perspective it has also imprisoned us in certain expectations of society, but with accepting education people will be able to share their opinions on all matters and make the education more sensitive and open.   

I know the critiques I am making are big but I think that if we are able to make these the world will be a better place for it. If we can change the education of America we will be able to create so many more opportunities and once we create opportunities for these minorities they will actually have a say in what stereotypes will be made for their race and if we get enough people if we get enough education for everybody, we will be able to work with everybody in finally create a perfect America.