Families and Social Status

I once heard that it takes three familial generations in order to raise a master musician. The first generation starts down the path of instrumental mastery, the second generation corrects any errors in technique and execution, and, by the third generation, all of the wisdom of the previous generations has combined to create someone who is truly genius - a true master of the musical arts. 

I mention this because we live in a society where people are divided into classes, most often in association with their families. We speak in both politics and economics about the upper, middle, and lower classes, designated by income and standard of living. As has been discussed in previous entries of this blog, perceived differences in outward appearances also cause distinctions to occur on a social level as well. These labels cause us to associate (admittedly, these are extreme examples) people who live in the lower class as criminals, uneducated, and dirty; and people of the upper class as privileged, entitled, and spoiled. 

Our purpose right now is to examine how these classes affect family life. A lower class family living in America may have to make use of food stamps, have poor housing conditions, faulty methods of transportation, and limited access to education. What kind of effect do these conditions have of children. The results of many scientific studies, documentaries, and research projects indicate that when a family falls into poverty (the word poverty is being used in a relative sense), it is difficult for the family to climb higher up the social ladder. Why? With limited education comes a limited comprehension of how to push oneself to reach the maximum potential. Poor living conditions create an atmosphere of survival as opposed to an atmosphere of growth and expansion. When I lived in Brazil, I became a personal witness of that ideology. Many of the people I knew and loved there lived in such abject poverty that they did not even think that there were better options for them, let alone that they could achieve those options. 

On the other hand, it may be all too easy for a child of good fortune to fall into the trap of entitlement and fail to develop his or her potential. As a result, the child may squander his or her gifts, talents, and money, and thus fall swiftly down the rungs of the social ladder. The cycle is continuous.

Thus we come to the analogy of the master musician. The key in this analogy is the role that previous generations play. The parents taught the children the value of their gift with music. Generation after generation, the family climbed the rungs of the ladder of musical proficiency, until they together reached the mastery. It took three generations to create a master musician. It may take multiple generations to overcome the effect that social statuses have on families.