1. Peskov1
Anton Peskov
Kathleen Moorhead
ENC 1101
07 December 2011
Consequences of upward mobility
Upward mobility refers to a transition of an individual from a lower to a higher social or
economical class position. At birth, individuals are brought into an already existing society with
people organized into social classes and within families. As people grow into adults, they
identify themselves with these families and societies, adopting their cultures, values, ethics,
and norms. Thus, others may recognize an individual as coming from certain geographical
locations by their behavior or mannerisms. Societies shape the way people behaves, how they
view themselves and others, how they perceive their surrounding and how well they cope with
misfortunes. Surowiecki agrees that whenever the community mourns, they come together to
seek solutions (443). However, within families, societies and communities, there are
differentiations, and so, a member of a family or a community may feel different from others
for many reasons including financial status, gender, socialization, and upbringing (Serano 395).
Portrays an example of these differences in the coming out story of a transsexual
woman.Serano explains that contempt and fear has shape the society’s attitudes towards
sexuality, gender and women as whole. With these, there is a link between Surowiecki and
Serano’s perception on culture and society. The whole society, through the media reacted
towards Serano’s coming out, maybe as an attempt to understand or find a solution to the
queer knowledge. Serano gives an account of her experiences through a culture that
2. Peskov2
stereotypes transsexuals. Nathan also offers insight into diversity and community (234). She
says that people always want to meet people from dissimilar backgrounds but when they do,
they get uncomfortable and in turn, prefer people who are like them. This is also portrayed in
Serano’s story. As much as people want to meet people who are physically like her, they
ridicule and discriminate her with this information. These differences force people to go against
the expectations of the society, thus attracting varied responses from the society. The cultures
that an individual adopts have the ability of molding the person’s thoughts, hence, influencing
their decision-making. Understanding an individual’s behavior or tendency of making decisions
requires a background understanding of the person’s psychological and physiological processes,
their social systems, and the role of nature and nurture in their behavioral pattern. Societies
have a great influence on the decisions people make because of the expectations it places on its
members. People are therefore inspired to make decisions that agree with the expectations of
the society and more so, our decisions are socially shaped. Serano decided to keep her sexuality
a secret before the coming out because she was trying to be like everyone else in the society.
To maintain normality, she remained in the closet before deciding to come out. This is not
always the case. Other factors are also very important in decision making, for instance, social
experiences, cognitive maturity, and personality types play a role in one’s decision-making
tendencies. Probably Serano’s experiences forced her to come out and change herself.
To understand the importance of community and society, Nathan says that members of
a community must have similarities, which permits them to relate with each other (230). The
similarities are values, which are instilled in members and this helps them function together,
just as Surowiecki explains in the functionality of the community, the community uses teams to
3. Peskov3
solve problems. These teams are bound together with unified values and similarities. Together
with the values, experiences of community members are also important in enabling them
function and get along well. During difficulties, they rely on each other’s experience to cope and
find solutions. Despite this, Nathan also says that common experiences within a community
fades very quickly and cannot be relied upon to maintain solidarity (231). Even though many
people admire tight and close communities, they are not motivated to follow the demands of
such communities that will change their lifestyles such as having time demands. Therefore, the
importance of a community to an individual will depend on the individual’s judgment and
acceptance of its demands. Therefore, as much as people are born within a community, one
may go against the requirements of a community if they consider it less important in their life.
Nathan also discusses diversity in an individual’s eye. She says that even though people hope to
meet others from different backgrounds and ethnicities, they usually feel better when they
meet people with who they share certain things (Nathan 235). To have a diverse community,
the people in it must be able to live and function together.
Within societies, there are classes, which categorize people according to their economic
backgrounds. These classes determine the relationship and associations between people of
different classes and contain boundaries that members of each class should not cross. In a
majority of societies, people are divided into lower, middle, and upper classes. These
boundaries are not absolute, which mean that they can be crossed. There are many instances
when a member of one class crosses the boundary into another class. The prominent way is
through relationships. Because there is a definite relationship and way of association between
the classes, people of one class usually interact with members within that class. However, this is
4. Peskov4
not always the case, as friendships, love and marriage always interrupts the agreed association
between classes, and when this happens, there is always a conflict between members of the
two classes. Being born in a particular class does not always sentence one to remain in the
same class. People work hard to move upward and live better lives than their parents do.
However, social comparisons hinder their ability as they end up feeling inadequate to fulfill
their dreams. Once a person has been compared with another well doing individual, they may
feel inspired to outdo that person, or feel inadequate to compete. This depends on the person’s
personality type, emotional maturity, or upbringing. The feeling of incompetence and
inadequacy may discourage one from pursuing certain dreams or choosing certain careers due
to the fear of failure. Not having the required resources, psychological incapability, financial
ability, or access to the resources may hinder one from choosing careers they admire.
Psychological incapability is a result of feelings of incompetence and social stressors such as
comparisons and negative influence. For example, a girl may feel inadequate to pursue an
engineering course compared to a boy.
From birth throughout life, individuals continue to realize themselves in different ways
and may go through transformations into states that they feel most comfortable with. In many
cases, societies do not easily accept people who are different from what they consider as
normal. Cases that are predominant in the media are those that are biologically or sexually
different. This group includes homosexuals, transsexuals, albinos, dwarfs, and other illnesses.
Serano explains people’s reactions on physical transformations and the role f the media
in influencing these reactions (391). She says that the public is excited whenever they recognize
physical changes in an individual because this permits them to cross class boundaries. Physical
5. Peskov5
transformation refers to changes in a person’s physical outlook while psychological
transformation refers to changes in a person’s psychological setup and ways of perception. It
takes a while for a society to realize that an individual is going through a psychological
transformation. If the transformation is destructive, people scorn and discourage it. However, if
it is constructive, the society accepts and encourages the individual. The psychological
transformations affect the way we relate to others and perceive the society as a whole. It will
also have a bearing on how we perceive ourselves and how we choose to live our lives. Because
people are born into societies, there are roles assigned to each member of the society. These
roles depend on ones’ age, gender, ability and specialty. One is expected to act in a specific ay
during different stages in their lives. As a child, a person’s role may be to be a helper in the
family, however, this may change depending on one’s’ gender. As the person grows older, the
person may be a wife and a mother or a father and a husband. One may have multiple roles at
the same time during different stages in his live. In most cases, people always play their roles
diligently up to certain time when they may rebel. The rebellion comes when there is a change
in social class or status, especially through education or exposure. For example, an educated
woman may choose not to carry out “wifely” duties once she is employed, while she could have
performed them dutifully before education or employment. These assigned roles within
communities usually influence a person’s career path. This limits one’s ability and prevents
people from maximizing their capabilities. Assigned career roles narrow one’s choices to a
specific career path, hence offering few opportunities for having a better social class. Because
everyone wants to feel useful and important to a society, subservience is very important.
Though the society divides people into classes, members of each class can interact with people
6. Peskov6
from other backgrounds and ethnicities without class limits. The ability to diversify depends on
one’s personality and socialization. Being a member of one class does not inhibit diversity,
though it influences our emotional lives. Social classes determine how we live our lives, the
people we interact with, and the environments in which we live. These factors greatly influence
our emotional lives. For example, a person in a low class may be unable to afford basic
requirements for happiness, hence ends being frustrated and moody. This may not be the case
for everyone in that class.
