Conformity Project: Blog 2

Another aspect I want to focus on for the conformity project is the familial pressure on the individual, like I mention in my previous blog, but with education and work involved. Although I do not know my grandmother very well, I understand that she raised my mother to be a very hard working, determined woman. Throughout their lives, both have worked as street vendors in Mexico, along with other family members. Though I have also been raised to work very hard in jobs, if I were to interview my grandmother for the project, I would compare the differences in the family pressure during her youth to the family pressure I currently face. Since I would also be possibly the first in my family to attend college, one difference I would highlight is that I experience much less pressure to work and more pressure to study. During my grandmother's youth, she probably worked for long hours every week in order to contribute to paying for living expenses. Though she has had brothers and sisters to help her, she experienced the family pressure to work for many years; if she refused to comply, the family could have shunned her and she risked having to financially destabilize the family. She could have also risked destroying relationships within the family. In this generation, since my direct family is much better off financially, I feel much less pressure to contribute to earning a living, though I am still expected to work. However, if I were to not comply, I would risk deteriorating my relationship with my mother,though not risk destabilizing the family financially.