Anthro I Am a White

Anthro

I am a white male in my early 20s who grew up in a small Northeastern town. The street I grew up on was tree-lined, and the houses were spaced equally apart. All were single-family dwellings inhabited with middle-class families like mine: none of the fathers on the block worked at a white-collar job except for one doctor. Most of the women living on the street were stay-at-home moms except for the two single moms who worked. About three-fourths of the families were Caucasian like ours; of those about half were second- or third-generation Italian. The other quarter of the neighborhood's population was either Hispanic or African-American, but there was one Jewish family too. Like many of the Caucasians on our block, we did not talk about our genealogy. I only knew that we had ancestors who were Scots-Irish and French.

Language played a major role in defining our community. Because of the substantial Italian population, most of the residents of the community knew a few words of Southern Italian slang. Yet only the Italian families spoke Italian in their homes. Their native language replaced English as soon as anyone walked into their door. Language served as a means of distinguishing their culture from anyone else's, which is why the non-Italian Caucasians in our community defined ourselves partly by the fact that we were not Italian. Moreover, because none of the non-Italian Caucasian families were as aware or proud of our ethnic identities, we defined ourselves as a community by default. Part of the reason why the Italians seemed a unique subculture too was that many first-generation relatives cohabited with them. Extended families were rare in anything other than an Italian household. Our family consisted of me, by brother, and my parents. Divorce was nonexistent in the Italian community, whereas a sizable number of the non-Italian families were split up by the time I left home for college. My family was not one of them.

Therefore, ethnic background, language, and family structure were some of the ways that helped me define my own community. Religion also played a major role in community identity formation. The Italian community worshipped at an Italian Roman Catholic Church that offered mass in Italian too. Attending a service with some of my Italian friends was a culture shock at times: revealing the nuances between our community and even between individuals who would otherwise be lumped together under the general "white" or "Caucasian" rubric. Being Catholic is a major feature of the Italian community but for the rest of us, Protestantism was our family religion. Some families were more religious than others. The extent to which a family would ascribe to their faith was a major feature of identity and in many ways remains so with me today. Now that I've left the community in which I grew up, I view others partly by their degree of religiosity.

While growing up, age was a huge factor in personal identity formation as well as community identity formation. Young people prefer to associate with people their own age. The same is true now that I moved out of home; none of my friends are more than three years older or younger than me. Youth community distinguishes itself from both its elders and young children with several symbols and artifacts ranging from the technology we use to the clothes we wear to the food we eat. Young people find common identity with one another by making fun of the differences between us and people in the older generations. We criticize the music our parents listen to, the food our grandmothers eat, and the lack of technology integration among some seniors.

Politics was a fascinating feature of community cohesion when I was growing up and remains so. For example, my parents' beliefs were left of center. They advocated for equal rights on all levels and support gay marriage. My parents also believed in strong social services. However, not all the families in our community were liberal and many were in fact highly conservative. The Italian community was only conservative when it came to issues like abortion but otherwise they shared similar political beliefs with my family. On the other hand, some of the devout Protestants in our community seemed absorbed in their beliefs to the extent that they segregated themselves from those who did not share the same ideals. As young people, my friends and I did not care about politics and would associate with one another whether our parents were liberal or conservative. Now that I am in college and forming new communities with like-minded individuals, politics plays a far more important role in my life.

Growing up, social status depended quite a bit on income and father's profession. Ethnicity also played a role, as I believe that the non-Italian Caucasians generally believed themselves to be superior to everyone else. Now that I am forming new communities in college, I notice similar patterns. Many of the students who came from wealthy families end up in the same classes and clubs. I believe their associations are not due to wealth itself but to the ways they were socialized. The subjects that wealthy students are interested in sometimes differs from those poor or middle-class students are. In high school, none of the students from wealthy backgrounds were in shop class whereas almost all the friends I had on my block were. Similarly, students tend to divide themselves into social groups according to their ethnicity. The Asian-American club and other ethnic groups create divisions between communities. As a Caucasian male, I find that I belong to a nebulous but dominant social group. We are dominant because of the implied power that white males have.

My community can be defined as young, white, male, working class, and secular-humanist. I have brought my identity with me from my community of origin and now that I am in college, my friends are mainly like me. We like to play sports. We wear comfortable clothes and shun fashion. Jeans, sweats, and t-shirts are our garb and we rarely wear anything but runners or Doc Martins. Jewelry is all but meaningless. We spend our money on similar items: technology toys like computers and games. Our hair varies but is not outlandish; we don't like to stand out.

A signal my personal status in any number of ways. What I wear tells people that I am a working class individual. The T-shirts that I wear have phrases on them that denote my community too: including the names of bands that I like. What music I listen to has become a major feature of my identity, distinguishing me from other people in my age group who might listen to different genres.

The people in my community also talk the same way. We use the same inflections and slang words, many of which are borrowed from American popular culture. When we socialize, we do things that other communities might find silly or offensive like telling dirty jokes or playing drinking games. The people in my community tend to appreciate the same kinds of music and most of us have MP3 players and laptops as well as mobile phones. My community likes action flicks and we do not particularly aspire to any profession.

The status I have as a white male is ascribed. Social mobility might be easier for me because of my gender and ethnicity and because I have no language or cultural barriers to overcome when I apply for work. The fact that I will have a college degree also becomes a defining feature of my status. Those with college degrees have aspired toward social mobility; students like me maintain our social status by pursuing similar academic paths. Ironically, however, many people in my community of origin who could not afford to attend college are the ones who most needed access to the tools for upward mobility.