Growing Us as a Product of Society

Kiara Serrano

“I pledge as a USciences’ student, that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment.”

SIGN: Kiara Serrano

Growing us as a Product of Society

I was born into a generation where technology plays a crucial role in life. People are consistently texting, online shopping, and checking their notifications to their numerous social media accounts on an hourly basis. Social constructions are known as the limitations that society places on everyone based on their race, physical appearance, capabilities, social status, etc. These limitations are thrown on individual’s shoulders and they are forced to carry these barriers around. Individuals unite as a community and begin to form an ideal vision of their human product, contaminating the minds of most. A human’s ideology varies, but the overview of society’s demands brainwashes them to start chasing what society sees as pleasing. For 18 years, I have been modified as a product of my country through my parents, peers, and the public to generally satisfy the ideal human. Being a product of my community means that the decisions I make regarding my apparel, education, and culture depend on what I am exposed to and what I allow to affect me.

Growing up in a Hispanic household, I was taught many values, one being respect. I always had respect for my elders. One way I showed my respect was through what I wore. My family never told me what I could or could not wear, yet I always had an idea. When I was about 15, the trend of crop top shirts had been exposed to me. I would log onto Instagram, along with my other numerous social media accounts, and see people wearing dainty shirts that exposed their midriff; my friends would also always wear them when we would all hang out. It was a fad that I wanted to be a part of, yet I didn’t coincide. I did this out of respect for my family. Again, I was never told what not to wear, yet I felt as though if my father saw me in such attire, he would be disappointed. My dad is an old-fashioned Hispanic from Puerto Rico. His morals, the morals that were instilled in me, and the morals in my culture surround around the idea of respect. If I were to wear a dainty shirt, I would be breaking the norm while publicly embarrassing my family. People in my culture believe that what I wear is a representation of who I am. That if I wear less, my values and what I think of myself are less. They would also criticize my father’s parenting style if I chose to wear such revealing clothes. Because of what society might think of my dad and my dad’s opinion towards the idea I, to this day, restrain myself from wearing revealing clothes around him.

Some kids excel in sports or art, yet I was not one of those kids. School was important to me, it was the one thing I was good at. I attended catholic school my whole life, apart from the University of the Sciences. My mother never graduated high school and my dad graduated college, yet I had everything I always wanted despite the circumstances. Growing up, school was never an option but I was never forced to do anything. I could infer that good grades and graduating high school was expected from my family and that’s exactly what I gave them. I was never told or forced to go to college, but I knew it was something I wanted to do. I made a rational choice to attend a college preparatory high school, in hopes that I could surround myself with people who had the same motive as I did. I thought of it as a latent way to expose myself to learning more about college, since my family lacked in that area. There I found my four best friends and I am glad that we came together. It is said that the people you surround yourself with reflect you. That is a great concept because my friends and I always pushed one another to do better. Whether it would be studying on weekend or doing ACT prep work, we always strived for the same goal. I believe that my friends encouraged me to do the best that I could in my school work. Although we all attend different colleges, we keep in contact with one another to remind each other to excel which influences me to keep going. This connects to the sociological perspective because most of my choices were influenced by my peers, if I had different friends I would most likely not be in the college that I am with the mindset I have.