Sociology Families in a Global Perspective - Essay Example

With the distribution of wealth in significantly different ratios across the nation, the family unit within the U.S. maintains different issues, stemming from economic and social circumstances, which directly influence family-related principles. India, a much less Westernized country, faces widespread poverty and dramatic chasms between social classes, despite its rapid growth in industry and radical social change. Indian culture maintains significantly different beliefs than that of United States families, created by economic circumstances and years of cultural values.

Indian citizens, based on social status and financial realities, show marked contrast to their Western counterparts. All of these factors will be explored within this project. The United States, and its highly capitalistic economic system, creates an environment where many families tend to be more career-focused, with stern emphasis placed on the quality of higher-level education. However, the level to which education is actively stressed by parents to their children is radically different based on social class. The U.S.

maintains a very wide division of classes, consisting of the significantly wealthy, upper middle class, middle class, and the lower working class. Upper middle class citizens, as one example, reflect the majority of this group as being holders of Bachelors and post-graduate degrees in high paying professional fields (Henslin, 2003). The lower working class, in opposite respect, represents the majority of U.S. blue collar workers, who rear their children with little emphasis on career-building.

This group is more dominant toward their children, often using physical punishment to ensure child obedience (Henslin). This emphasis on obedience and rigorous punishment is often driven by the fact that blue-collar workers tend to work under controlling managerial environments, which is a mentality passed