Free Essay Example: Culture and Social Interaction

The article "Social Interactions and Cultural Repertoires as Resources for Coping with Breast Cancer" by Zucchermaglio and Alby in 2017 illustrates the role of cultural and social resources in coping with cancer as a disruptive experience. The article incorporates interviews in regard to the interactions with other patients despite the difference in cultural background. Furthermore, the journal focused on the role of social interactions as well as cultural repertoires as devices for understanding and facing the condition. The results from this article indicate that cancer patients use both interactive and noninteractive strategies to cope with their condition as well as interact with other patients.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The article incorporates culture-social structure to identify the culture-social conditions that are connected with the patient's ability to cope with his or her condition. Some of these conditions include factors such as religion, feminine identity, as well as sexuality (Zucchermaglio & Alby). These conditions would increase the patients' openness to new experiences as well as taking a rational and orderly approach to solving their problems. Furthermore, the concept of cultural conformity is reflected in the patients' need to recover and reintegrate into society as complete and functioning individuals. Their conditions also make them susceptible to social issues such as stigma that affects their adaptability in society. According to the article, the patients tend to assign their illness with a general value that is aligned with a variety that is typical to the popular culture to which they belong as a way of applying different repertoires such as fatalism. The article illustrates how patients used repertoires to interpret different events, adjust to themselves in the world as well as find themselves in a world that was culturally connoted.

In my opinion, the article is a significant piece as it illustrates the various ways in which cancer patients interact and identify themselves in the world. The article further uses interviews to illustrate the real experiences of patients that help understand how cultural background, as well as social interaction structures, helps individuals to cope with their illnesses. Furthermore, the article is essential as it illustrates how various concepts of social interactions are essential for helping individuals cope with different situations.

Socialization and deviance

The article "Understanding the Influence of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class on Inequalities in Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes among Eighth-Grade Students: Findings from an Intersectionality Approach" by Bécares and Priest in 2015 is significant. The article illustrates the racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender inequalities that have been widely reported in the United States academic system. The article further explains that several models indicate that there are large inequalities in regards to socioemotional results in terms of internalizing behavior, self-concept, and control between the advantaged and disadvantaged. Furthermore, cases of inequality are more in the advantaged class as compared to the disadvantaged class in regards to academic assessments.

The article incorporates the concepts of nature vs. nurture and socialization process by explaining that both nurturing and natural factors contribute to the academic achievement inequalities. Some of these factors include family composition, the ability of the parents to pattern socioeconomic inequalities, school, and neighborhood traits. Furthermore, the journal illustrates the ability of educational institutions to act as an agent of socialization as students from different backgrounds meet and socialize. Additionally, the journal illustrates how socialization and the life course of individuals by demonstrating how socialization inequalities affect the life course of the student. These inequalities include racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender. Gender role in socialization is illustrated through the indication of the difference in performance between boys and girls. As such, boys tend to perform better in sciences and mathematics while girls perform better in literature and reading.

Social Stratification, Social Class, and Ethnicity

The article "The Research Topic Landscape in the Literature of Social Class and Inequality" by Guo et al. in 2018 is essential as it seeks to map the topic landscape of the field to identify significant development courses over time. The article indicates the significant development made from the early discovery of the concept of social stratification to recent developments that have been made regarding the concept of social stratification. The authors define social stratification as the prevalent societal differences in regard to income, wealth, power, or education. Furthermore, the article notes that the evolution of society alters the layers as well as the boundaries between these differences.

The journal identifies and explains the theories of stratification. These theories include the Marxian theory, the three-component theory of stratification, as well as the theory of social stratification. The article illustrates the rates of race and ethnicity by indicating that the study has contributed to the US social stratification by exploring the social meaning of illness and deconstructing the inequalities that are grounded in social stratification in the health sector. Furthermore, the article illustrates that social stratification and the division of people into social classes has resulted in increased poverty in the United States. The concept of gender mobility has also increased as both genders are considered equally concerning employment. Finally, the journal illustrates that social stratification has greatly contributed to an increase in the integration of factors such as age-race. However, negative factors such as ethnicity and barriers to integration have increased with an increase in social stratification.

I believe that the article is essential in identifying the progress made on the concept of social stratification. The article uses empirical information derived from both qualitative and quantitative sources to illustrate its concepts. Furthermore, the article is eloquently written using language that is simple and easy to understand. As such, it is easy for both the public and the professional sociologists to understand.

Institutions: Family and Education

The journal "The Relationship between the Family and Education in England: A Sociological Account" by Musgrave in 2010 illustrates the relationship between the family and education. According to the authors, the information in this article can be used to identify the patterns of social mobility within society. The article focuses on how the institutions of family and education are interrelated as well as the adjustments that have occurred in this relationship. As such, the journal will illustrate the sociological traditions that are structural-functional between the two institutions.

The article identifies and analyzes the concepts of the family. The authors indicate the different types of families that are present in the current world. The article also highlights the notions of dating, marriage, and divorce, as well as how these concepts affect different aspects of society. Furthermore, the article indicates the types of schooling that are practiced in society as well as social inequalities, such as differences in performance that can take place in a school setting. Additionally, the journal explains the key issues and challenges that affect the education institutions in England. Finally, the article explains the Forms and functions of schooling to the students, parents, and members of society.

In my opinion, the article is significant as it indicates the existing relationship between the family and educational institutions. From this relationship, the reader can use the information to reconcile the two institutions successfully. The article uses both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze and describe its findings. As such, the journal is easily understandable to both the public as well as professional sociologists.

Works Cited

Bécares, Laia, and Naomi Priest. “Understanding the Influence of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class on Inequalities in Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes among Eighth-Grade Students: Findings from an Intersectionality Approach.” Plos One, vol. 10, no. 10, 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141363.

Guo, Liang, et al. “The Research Topic Landscape in the Literature of Social Class and Inequality.” Plos One, vol. 13, no. 7, 2018, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0199510.

Musgrave, P. W. “The Relationship between the Family and Education in England: A Sociological Account.” British Journal of Educational Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 1971, pp. 17–31., doi:10.1080/00071005.1971.9973297.

Zucchermaglio, Cristina, and Francesca Alby. “Social Interactions and Cultural Repertoires as Resources for Coping With Breast Cancer.” SAGE Open, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, p. 215824401769201., doi:10.1177/2158244017692015.