Culture and Social Class

In class this week we talked about how culture and social class effect family life. Let's start with some definitions: 
Family: a group united by marriage, or cohabitation, blood, and/or adoption in order to satisfy intimacy needs and/or bear and socialize children. 
Culture: Attitudes, behaviors, arts, beliefs, and values pertaining to a specific social group.
Social Class: a division of a society based on social and economic status. 
You personal culture mainly comes from family experiences. Think about your traditions. Where did they come from? They probably came from your ancestors. For example, Christmas meals in my family are the same every year because we like to carry on that tradition from generation to generation. 

All cultures are different because everyone has their own way of living. However, that does not mean that one culture is right or wrong. Everyone has the agency to live the way they want. Cultures will clash and some cultures will adapt to new ways of life. The most important thing to keep in mind when you are creating a new family culture is to keep it in line with Heavenly Father's plan. Our ultimate goal in this life as Latter-Day Saints is to return back to our Father in Heaven. We do this by following the commandments that have been placed before us from Heaven. Elder Oaks has said: “This gospel culture comes from the plan of salvation, the commandments of God, and the teachings of the living prophets. To help its members all over the world, the Church teaches us to give up any personal or family traditions or practices that are contrary to this gospel culture.”

 My advice for couples who are serious about marriage is to have a conversation with each other about cultural differences and how you plan on raising your kids to be able to have access to certain resources. My teacher said: "The family, on the other hand, also influences the greater society or the groups to which we belong. Due to the sheer mass of social groups, however, it is easier to be influenced than it is to influence." How do you want your family to influence the world?  To each individual culture, they will probably say their culture is the best because that is what they have grown up in. I do not think one set of values is better than the other, I would say that biases are huge when it comes to this discussion.  I believe that all the different cultures have something to contribute to the world. We can learn from other cultures to be well-rounded citizens. I think God wants us to learn from each other because we are all different. It would be boring if we were all the same.

Another contributor to family life is social class. Some factors of social class include, money, ancestry, behavior, confidence, education, speech, location, dress, etc. People judge others with these factors and most of the time look down or look up to others, comparing who is better. But we need to keep in mind that perceptions are not always reality. We may all look different, but we are spirit sons and daughters of Heavenly parents who love us no matter what!