Understanding My Social Location and Experiences Essay

The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own â€Å"biography†, or life experiences by understanding the â€Å"history†, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I†¦show more content†¦Compared to California’s education demographics, San Leandro has a higher percentage of high school graduate, but a lower percentage of higher educational attainment compared to the entire nation (bachelor’s degree or higher). Using Thompson and Hickey’s model for social class in the United States (2005), my family would be considered working class. This is defined as â€Å"clerical, pink and blue collar workers with often low job security; common household incomes range from $16,000 to $30,000 [and] high school education† (Thompson et al., 2005). My mother currently works as a part-time waitress and is going to community college to receive an associate’s degree in accounting. My father has been working as a full-time cook at a Chinese restaurant in Oakland Chinatown for about 25 years. His highest level of educational attainment is high school. These racial and social class demographics are important in understanding my social location. In relation to other racial groups in the United States, Asian-Americans are constructed as the model minority. The model minority myth (Takaki, 1999) has shaped how I perceive what opportunities I have in order to achieve the American Dream. 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