From a Sociologic lens, the life chances theory can be defined as a prediction of how someone’s life will pan out depending on their place in society. Thins such as access capital, race, etc. play a role in determining where someone will be in their future. An example of this can be seen in a Hispanic family seeking refuge that had just assimilated themselves into American society. Given that they know no English, have little to no access to capital, and no formal education, the theory of life chances would predict that their children would not fall far from where they are currently. In contrast to this is a white male born into an already established and wealthy family. Given his life chances he is destined to be a part of the same social and economic level as he experienced growing up., Upon taking Sociology for this past semester I had analyzed my life, based on the theory of life chances.
My life all began shortly after when my immigrant Vietnamese parents had come to America with nothing but the clothes on their backs and dreams of success. That being said, they had no formal education for any trade, and as a result of it they could not work any job that would provide them with a fair amount of money. They had to resort to intense physical jobs with little to no pay. A few years later, I was born shortly after my sister, and it almost seems as if I was destined to be just like them. I had not been able to learn English until I was five years old. Life was not looking for the better as I was born into one of the ghettos in Louisiana. My parents still recall the danger it was walking around and let alone existing in such conditions. It was not until they decided to risk it all and quit and open a nail salon that not only their life chances, but my own along with my sister’s change drastically. Shortly after that change we saved enough money to relocate the family to where we are now, in a little, and dominantly Caucasian community in Wisconsin. Now, by the time we lived here I was beginning school. The problem arose that I did not speak one world of English, and no one there spoke another language aside from the couple Hispanic kids. What this did to me was create a social barrier between not only myself, but my parents from the society in which we live in. Not only was there a language barrier, but there was a culture barrier between my parents, and those around us. An example of this can be how in Vietnamese families it is the norm to discipline their child by spanking, or verbal lash outs. A typical Caucasian family does not do such things to their children, which I sadly learned further into my life. From there, success was the only path for my parents as their wealth grew after being able to establish themselves in our town. From there I was able to participate in elite level sports, and further educate myself earlier than some of my peers in subjects such as writing, math, and reading. I still faced adversity however, being the only Vietnamese kid in the entire town, but eventually overcame it.
Although I faced adversity for being the one of two Vietnamese kids in my hometown, my situation was far better than what it could of because of me being male. My sister, had it harder on her because she was female. This is because people gave her problems, for not only her race, but also her gender. She had set curfews and certain rules she had to adhere to as she was not male. These rules also played out because of yet again Vietnamese culture. In contrast to this, although I faced challenged for my race, I noticed that I was allotted a lot more freedom than my sister, even though I was older. I was able to go to friends’ houses, walk home, and sometimes go to sleepovers. My sister could not do any of that. An example of this from my childhood can be seen when my sister was wanting to go to a sleepover, but she was not allowed to by parents because she was female, and it was deemed too dangerous by them for her to be sleeping over at homes owned by other parents that they did not know intimately. With her being two years older than be I thought that the rule applied to myself as well. It was not until one day when I worked up the nerve to ask them if I could sleep over at my friend’s house. I was expecting the same answer they gave my sister but to my surprise I was allowed to, with no trouble whatsoever. It dawned upon me that was allowed all of these extra freedoms that I took for granted because I only because I was male. Upon receiving further education and learning about the matter in a deeper perspective, I learned that this imbalance was between male and female has been prevalent since the dawn of humanity. From a much broader lens this can be the imbalance in wages, and employment between men and women. This is because men are statistically more likely to occupy more prestigious positions without working as hard as women to achieve it. In addition to this, women get paid a less amount of men, which further shows that being born a man has made my life chances better than what I could be if I was a woman. Tying back to the theory of life chances, it can be seen that being able to be male allows for me to obtain success easier than female counterparts.
In addition to gender race has deeply affected my life chances. For better, for worse it depends on the situation. As aforementioned, I was one of two Vietnamese kids in my school with my sister being the second. This ended up creating much unwanted attention because we were unicorns in the eyes of the others. That being said, I was bullied daily for my time being in the public-school system for being Vietnamese. I was ashamed for being different, and that different thing about me was something that I could not control. This is one of the many examples of the negative results due to my life chances of being Vietnamese. However, in contrast to this negativity, being Vietnamese has improved my life chances as well. This can be seen during my experiences while applying for college. This is because since my parents did not go to school, and since I am also of Asian descent, I qualified for many more scholarships and had a heightened chance at being admitted into colleges of my choice due to my unique status. Although this was beneficial, the decision for what to study has always been a battle, and it seems as if it will forever be a battle between passion and a predetermined future.
Upon reaching my seventh and eighth grade year I began my very own business involving the resale of sneakers. From then on, I was hooked, and I knew I wanted to be a business man when I was older. But, as I have gotten older, that fire that was burning inside of me to pursue what I wanted to be eventually was stomped out to ashes due to the very own culture I was born in to. According to not only my own family, but the majority of Vietnamese families, true success and true respect is given to those who become doctors, or at the bare minimum have some place in the medical field. Obviously enough my passion for business the views of those in my culture, so eventually speaking I had no other choice but to give into the overwhelming odds against me in order to suffice the uproar for not wanting to pursue a medical career. In a bigger picture, it my race will have a negative impact on my life wherever I go in life. This is because as stated above, men may be chosen over women more times for higher positions, but Caucasian men are of the highest power in our society in terms of privilege. What this means is that where ever I go, and whatever path that I career chose to take in life I know that my life chances is not as good-looking as those of Caucasian males because in order to reach their level, I must work harder than them. That being said, the aspect of culture is an interesting in the life chances theory because it has been proven beneficial yet detrimental.
Furthermore, my family’s social class has dramatically changed from the start of when they came to America. As aforementioned, they came here with absolutely nothing, and nothing good seemed to be coming to them. At that beginning point, they were at their lowest of lows, and it was highly likely that with that lifestyle my sister and I would fall into their footsteps. But, as they took their risk and started their own nail salon, after about a span of a little more than a decade their access to capital had grown exponentially. This huge spike in wealth allowed for my family to rise from lower class, to now the upper middle class. From this, it can really be seen that my family has really had a dramatically upward movement since their beginning in America. Since this, my sister and I are more likely to succeed and to even break away and further improve. This is because since there is more access to capital, my parents are able to hire tutors and purchase books to further enhance our education, which they did. This as a result snowballs into a larger result of heightened success.