Socialization Autobiography

I entered the world on the second of March in the year of 1977 born to working class parents. Because my parents were tied up with their job and providing for their family, my aunts helped raised me in an extended family. As a baby every time I cried my aunts used to give me a bottle to make me hush and this continued throughout toodlerhood, as I learned to speak I became very inquisitive and asked alot of question, but my aunts ignored my many questions and told me to go watch TV or play outside. This contributed to my now personality of being very introverted. Television was my babysitter, I watched many documentaries which donated to my wealth of knowledge. My parents realized that as the only child at that time, I had withdrawn myself from friends and cousins my age and TV was the only thing I interacted with, so they decided to join me in cub scouts, karate school and athelic club. There my social interaction grew as I learned discipline and respect for life and others while I intermingled with children my age and adults. Erving Goffman, one of the leading proponents of symbolic interactionalism believed that meaning is created through social interaction, I found this theory to be true as I began to see different culture and personalities, and how people interact with each other in real life.

My mom and dad got divorced when I was thirteen and since I was the oldest I had many roles to fill. I constantly tried to fulfill these many statuses and roles. My ascribed status is an African male, son and brother, my achieved status was a student of the Tabaquite Roman Catholic School and my master status was a young son and student. Because of the divorce I experienced many role conflicts being the eldest child, I had to become a father figure to my younger siblings and still perform the role of a brother.

As I grew into a teenager I started dating, I met this pretty Indian girl that had an interesting personality, she seemed like quite a modest, intelligent and a faithful muslim, but I as got to know her more and more I began to experience culture shock because I viewed her as quite a descent, religious young lady. What was quite the shocker is that she was into heavy metal, tattoos and piercings, of course her parents did not know about that. Trying to support my interest in her I attended many rock concerts with her and it was surprising to realize that this counter culture was well rooted in Trinidad and Tobago. I often felt like an outsider being the only person that is not really into rock music attending these concerts, based Toennies term "Gessellschaft" I had no personal ties and self interest in rock music, I was only doing it for the sake of that girl.

My grandmom insisted we must to go church every Sunday morning as it will instill good values, because she believe in the folkway according to the Holy Bible, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it"

...