Sociology

Ascribed Status or Achieved Status? Which best describes you? The answer is both. Ascribed Status is a status of which you have no control, for e.g. your gender or ethnicity. Achieved Status is the status which you seek to achieve. Unlike Ascribed Status, over which you have no control, Achieved Status is entirely based on your efforts and attitudes to the world around you. The idea of Achieved Status is that you can be anyone you want to be or do anything you want to do as long as you put the work in. Ascribed Status could have a massive effect on Achieved Status. An example of Ascribed Status having an effect on Achieved Status could be being born into a family that lives in poverty. This means that you may not have the same opportunities as everybody else in the country for e.g. going to university. You may have the ambition of being a lawyer but your family will not be able to pay the university bills and so your dream to be a lawyer is shattered. However, as we are all given a free education in this country we are all given the same chances at a young age. Even if you are born to a poor family, with enough time and effort you can achieve good grades at school which will lead onto a well paid job and a good lifestyle.

My belief is that no matter what your social class and background everyone can do well in life. All that is needed is work, dedication and high levels of determination. As long as you put the work in you can be who you want to be. The work we do when we are young shapes the way we turn out in the future. It entirely depends on yourself. Who do you want to be?....