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Which class is the best?


Social classes and cultural diversity are hot topics when it comes to politics within the United States but what about when it comes to family issues? When thinking of both social classes and cultural diversity a couple of terms need to be defined so that you can better understand how they apply to the family situation. These terms are tradition, ritual, and culture. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines all three as follows
1.       “Tradition: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions (from one generation to the next)"
2. "Ritual: an act or series of regularly repeated in a set precise manner"
3. "Culture: the set of shared attitudes, values goals, and practices that characterizes an institutions or organization"

When we better understand these words then we can see how social classes work, why there is cultural diversity and how to change the outcome of people who want better in life.  

So which class do you belong to? Most people know the answer to this question based upon the way they live. There is a social spectrum that accounts for many different aspects. Some of these are family life style, vocation, location, family history, amount of money someone has and much more. Based upon these aspects of life you can determine where you fall on the social spectrum. Most people believe that there are more benefits to living on the higher end of a social class or that they will be happier the higher up they are. However, this may not always be the case when it comes to happiness. I believe that God intended for us all to be equal however we have our agency to choose what we will do with the opportunities placed in our lives to progress.

It is in this progression that the definition above will be helpful. First, traditions influence our social class or diversity within a specific group of people. If the lessons that have been passed down from the previous generations have been good, constructive lessons then the future generations are more likely to be part of the higher social classes. This is because they have learned from the success of the older generations but also have probably felt the sense of achievement that comes with accomplishing goals in life. Second, ritual is important because it is how we handle ourselves daily. If we are disciplined in our daily ritual then it is more likely that we will accomplish more tasks in a shorter amount of time. We are then able to have focused long-term goals that we will meet because we have finished the daily smaller things. Third, culture, which is that set of shared beliefs, values, goals and attitudes that will affect how successful you really can be. If you are surrounding yourself with people who will help you to succeed then chances are you will. Now, if these three things (tradition, ritual, and culture) are not focused on and strengthen in a family then it is likely that the children will fall into a lower social class then what they were raised. It is hard to change the daily habits or traditions of spending money and it is this difficulty in changing that holds people back from moving up on the social spectrum once they have to provide for themselves. It is important to remember that even within the different social classes and cultures there are the higher class and lower class. 

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