How social structures affect the decision making of individuals in society.
Social structures in sociology are the distinguishable, unwavering arrangements of organizations whereby the human beings in a society interrelate and coexist together. Social structures have components such as social groups, social institutions, social statuses, roles, family, and culture. It affects the decision we make in our lives. The purpose of this essay is to identify how social structures impacted my decision of choosing to get married to go to university and consider how social structures may have affected how I made that decision and contrast that with how the social structures may affect other people’s ability to make or not to make similar decisions.
Family is a social structure that influenced my decision to get married. My relationship with my parents was not good and therefore I felt that marriage was the solution to my problems. I would finally get peace of mind in the marriage. The many fights between my family members always made me that if I finally got married, I’d be finally in a peaceful environment. My family also believed that marriage would alleviate poverty in our home. There was the belief that if I got married to a rich husband, the situation at home would have been made better hence my marriage. One’s relationship with his/her family influences their decisions on marriage. These beliefs held by some of the families influence the decisions that the family members make. A person from a rich background may not make the same decision because such beliefs may not hold. People that come from an environment with less or no domestic violence may not make a similar decision based on the same reason.
The desire to go to advance my education made me make the choice to get married. The husband is a rich guy who was able to pay for my school fees without straining and the only way for me to join university was by getting married to him. My family could not afford the school fees and therefore to me, marriage was a solution. A person who comes from a background that can afford the school fees chances is very minimal that he/she will make the same decision. Others may opt to work and save to pay for their school fees and therefore not making a similar decision as me.
Culture is another component of the social structures that affect our decisions. In the traditional setup, the parents allowed their children to marry at an early age. At the age of eighteen years, my parents encouraged me to get married. In modern society, early marriages are no encouraged at all and therefore most people at that age would not make the same decision. Others would make the same decision but without the consent of their parents. In contemporary social structures, education and culture are the elements around which the continuity and advancement of the society revolve around. Education is seen as a very vital element in modern society. One can do anything, to get tertiary education this may include getting married in societies that hold on to that one must be a married adult to be enrolled in tertiary institutions such as universities. Marriage may be a priority for people who would like to actualize their goals in life.
In my society education for girls was not that much advanced as most of the girls were unable to acquire professional education. After graduating from the high schools, most girls opted to get married. This also applied to me but I was still determined to learn up to university and pursue my dream career. Therefore, I saw marriage as a bridge to fulfilling my life goals. In modern society, both boys and girls have equal rights to education. Girls who have graduated their high school education have the right to advance their studies to the tertiary levels and can achieve their career goals easily unlike in the past. They may not make the same decision as me.
Research shows that various issues revolve around the aspect of social classes that affect the decision to go to higher education learning. There is no single overriding factor that is of influence for lower social students. They tend to take account of a lot of issues rather than their higher social class counterparts. The main one is that for one to have higher qualifications and get an improved job prospect he/she must be knowing people from high classes who have such jobs and careers. Therefore, to establish such connections one may see it better to be married to a higher social class person for educational purposes. In contrast, the children from the high social classes are advantaged and will not make decisions such as getting married.
I think that students from lower social classes put more effort into the expected financial outcomes of tertiary education learning. They are significant to some groups such as those with vocational entry qualifications. Students from lower social classes are discouraged by the belief that it is hard to get a job after finishing higher education without connections. Some lower social class parents believe that affording for their children’s education is a burden to them. Therefore, they may end up encouraging their children to get married to higher social class people. In contrast, the basis of marriage for the people in the higher social class may not be on the need to get employed since they may have already had the connections for jobs.
Social groups may also have influenced my decision to get married to go to university. Some groups believe that for one to fit in prestigious positions in society such as pursuing high education he or she must be married. The pressure from the group and fear of being excluded may make one option to get married for his or her wellbeing.