Discuss how your family’s quality of life and, consequently, your own life chances, have been affected by your family’s social location within the larger structure of your home country.
Social location refers to one’s place in society as mediated by axes of inequality, (i.e., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, age as well as your geographic location). In this assignment, we will consider three aspects of social location: the broad social policies that may (or may not) have created a foundation for acquisition of resources within your family, the level of resources available in your community of residence, and your family’s private resources. These resources are interdependent, but should be considered separately for clarity. For example, a family’s personal resources may have been increased by a variety of factors including a prior generation’s access to affordable college educations, access to reasonable mortgages to buy a home in a “good” neighborhood, and access to the “good” public schools within a wealthier community. Conversely, a family’s private resources may be decreased if one grew up in a neighborhood that had once been redlined, making it more difficult for community members to get housing and business loans, which would then affect the quality of neighborhood public schools and the chances of children from the community going on to college. In situations with limited private resources, it is often onemajor public resource, (e.g., a college-prep program in high school), that allows an individual to go to college. For American students, both social class and race have influenced the kinds of opportunities that have historically been available to your family.
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