Native American Social Structure Essay

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Social Structure: The major components of social structure are culture, social class, social status, roles, groups and social institutions. Use each of these social structure variables to explain why Native Americans have such a low rate of college graduation. (See Table 9.3 on page 234 in your Henslin textbook).

Minority groups must endure a great deal of inequality to gain success in the United States. For the few who succeed, there are many more that fall by the wayside and are passed over. Some of the most common are the peoples of the many NA tribes distributed throughout the country. Native Americans as a whole are often stigmatized in the US and as a result fall behind in many aspects of social life, most notably in education. This inequality in educational advancement can be easily attributed to the vast differences in culture, social status, social class, roles, groups and social institutions of the many NA tribes in the US. Native American cultures are a very tight knit and exclusionary institution, often keeping most of their traditional practices such as the Sun Dance behind closed
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Native American groups are very close, especially the family unit. Most life decisions and consequences involve the whole family so individual priorities are often set aside to aid the family. Often this means that families experiencing hardship will be supported by younger members at the expense of their education. This also unfortunately means as the cycle of hardship continues and without adequate support to pursue educational advancement the issues of today’s generations will continue to perpetuate. Native Americans just simply view social institutors differently than we do and as a result are in need of a system that better fits their way of life, however neither the US nor the tribes themselves lack to ability to make it come to

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