Essay Example on US Family Culture: A Blend of Many Ethnicities and Religions

Introduction

Traditionally, the American culture has a foundation on family structures with a support system of various individuals who intermarry. Across the generations, the families evolve further through birth, including of various members holding crucial roles (Perry & Whitehead, 2016). Moreover, the U.S. has a rich culture since it is a society that blends the beliefs and behaviors of many immigrants having varied ethnicity and religion. Therefore, most of the cultural practices in America borrow a lot from the imported customs from other counties where the immigrants left while finding their new home. This paper presents the findings on a comparison of related cultural issues in the United States to China. The paper explores cultural aspects such as housing and geographic location, religion, technology, socio-political beliefs, economics, education, food and dietary, access, and utilization of healthcare.

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Housing and Geographic Location

China is country located in Eastern Asia, at the border of the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, occupying between Vietnam and Korea ("The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency," 2019). The current population of the Chinese is 1,379, 302,771 with the Eastern half of the country has the most overwhelming settlements of people. However, the western side has a sparse population since it has a dense mountainous cover, making it a desert. On the other hand, the United States, the United States borders both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean and between Mexico and Canada. The U.S. population is 326, 625, 791 with the Eastern half of the country occupied by large urban clusters. Similar to China, the western part of the United States has mountains with desert occupying the Southern region.

Religion

Despite indicating growth in the religion in China, the Communist Party constantly involves in the prosecution attempts and toughening oversights that intend to hinder religious organizations. There are groups of Christians and Traditional Chinese who adhere to norms and beliefs of worship. Further, the Chinese Constitution supports the freedom of worship and exercising their religious beliefs. Hence, the government and other authorities permit the religious groups to own property and also collecting the donations. (Berkley Center for Religion, 2019). The U.S. has Christianity as the dominant religion. However, there are religious pluralism and diversification from various worship groups. Despite the American society experiencing positive impacts of religion, it has equally suffered its negative consequences. Due to religion, America has had a generation of younger people open to gay while in China, there are no such practices related to religion.

Technology and Mass Media

Despite China being one of the oldest societies, the use of technology and media has reshaped its culture while also envisioning more impactful changes in the future. Moreover, the breakthroughs in China's technology has profoundly contributed to the alterations realized in China in terms of cultural practices (Zhao, Xiong & Fang, 2016). Further, the coordinated internet strategies in China helps in business development through the introduction of modern manufacturing. The use of technology in the U.S., helps the media to organize the information making it accessible to the users. Through service providers such as Google, the Americans use the search engines to gather useful information such the advertisements and blog spots. Moreover, the U.S. population access various channels such as YouTube, Gmail, and other Google search engines.

Socio-cultural Beliefs and Values

Chinese emphasize the family as a key-value to their culture based on these values; the Chinese families focus on the virtue of respecting the elderly. In the whole of their lives, children should be obedient to their parents. Moreover, the culture in China suggests that the sons should take care of their parents at an old age since they should be living with their parents in the whole of their life. Compared to the United States, there are dramatic changes that the family undergoes. Unlike the Chinese who still anchor some of the cultural practices on tradition, the U.S. has transformed its culture through the introduction and use of modern technology. Considering interrogations of the U.S. citizens about their family and culture formulating the response becomes hard. American Modern society presents a contemporary point of view on the attributes of the families (Tata & Prasad, 2015).

Economics

China has a steady economic growth with a contribution of 34.27% of the world's total GDP which is as a result of its large labor force since it is one of the most populated countries in the world. It tops third-ranked Japan with a considerable margin. In terms of unemployment, China, in recent, has decreased the rate of joblessness 3.61%. Averagely, the rates of unemployment in China is at 4.08% making. However, China is a reliable manufacturer, exporting its various products across the world's markets. In terms of nominal and the PPP approach, the U.S. and China top the world in their GDPs. America has a 40.75% share of the world's GDP. Again, based on the exchange rates, the United States leads by $7, 128 bn. Currently, the U.S. has an unemployment rate of 4.2% while the government is focusing on establishing measures that will help to reduce the joblessness ("The world's top economy: the U.S. vs. China in five charts," 2019).

Socio-political Systems and Structures

In ancient times, China had a feudal structure of the government. However, it got a replacement by Monarchy (Kineman & Srirama, 2017). The king had absolute authority over the states. Besides, there were local administrations headed by chancellors composed of numerous officials acting as court rulers. Again, the regional supervisor had the mandate of controlling the local administrators. China has a hierarchical electoral system where the locals directly participate in the elections of their leaders. After selecting the People's Congress, the congress again indirectly elects the national legislature. In America, many people are happy about the way democracy operates in the country. The united states government has three levels that are the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Unlike the Monarch in China, the U.S. president heads the government after the elections. On the other hand, the legislature consists of the two houses, which are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The legislature is an independent body which operates separately from the influence of the legislature and the executive.

Food, Dietary Habits, and Body Image

Diet occupies an integral position in the life of the China people. Based on the survey about the vegetables, the Chinese concentrate on the taste of food, unlike the nutrition aspects (Levitt, 2019). The Chinese consumption of food has a foundation on the dietary guidelines that prescribe to the people to feed on meals made of vegetables, and fruits, cereals, dairy products, eggs, poultry, meat, nuts and also the soya beans. Based on this type of recommended diet by the Chinese, these food substances affect their thoughts, emotions, and perceptions hence making them less prone to poor body images. On the other hand, American culture embraces the habit of feeding on fast food. Some of the most common fats foods that American population consumes include sandwiches, Pizza and Italian, Mexican, Chicken, Cheese, and Burgers.

Education

The system of education in China begins from Kindergarten to higher levels of learning. The learners spend three years in Kindergarten, while in primary school, they learn for six years. In secondary school, the students take three to six years several other years in higher learning institutions. The management of the Kindergarten and the primary schools may be under either the local administration or private entities. The payment of tuition fees is upon the particular parents who wish to enroll their children in the most competitive schools. The U.S. education begins at an elementary level where the learners attend for five to six years before proceeding to Secondary schools. After, secondary school, the learners in America join the institutions of higher learning to finalize their studies (Roach, 2019).

Access and Utilization of Health Care

There is reduced access to health care in rural areas of China. However, in the urban areas, the health facilities have easier access to medical health, unlike the rural areas with a dense number of people seeing treatment. The government provides for some costs of treatment for the patients in public health centers while those attending to the private hospitals manage their bills. People living in the U.S. use their covers in achieving the best outcome of their treatment. Through the strategy for Quality Health Improvements, the U.S. has developed three primary objectives of healthcare provision to the people ("Overview of Quality and Access in the U.S. Health Care System | Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality," 2019). Across the complex healthcare system, the U.S. government supports the healthcare industry that supports several employees in getting treatment.

References

Berkley Center for Religion, P. (2019). Religion in China and the United States. Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/projects/religion-in-china-and-the-united-states.

Kineman, J., & Srirama, K. (2017). Introductory Essay for the SRBS Special Yearbook Issue: 'Realizing Sustainable Futures in Socio-Ecological Systems' (USA) in Parallel with 'Leadership for Sustainable Socio-Ecological Systems' (India). Systems Research And Behavioral Science, 34(5), 521-526. doi: 10.1002/sres.2502

Levitt, T. (2019). China facing bigger dietary health crisis than the US. Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6880-China-facing-bigger-dietary-health-crisis-than-the-US

Overview of Quality and Access in the U.S. Health Care System | Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. (2019). Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqdr16/overview.html

Perry, S., & Whitehead, A. (2016). Religion and Non-traditional Families in the United States. Sociology Compass, 10(5), 391-403. doi: 10.1111/soc4.12370

Roach, E. (2019). Education in the United States of America. Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://wenr.wes.org/2018/06/education-in-the-united-states-of-america

Tata, J., & Prasad, S. (2015). National cultural values, sustainability beliefs, and organizational initiatives. Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal, 22(2), 278-296. doi: 10.1108/ccm-03-2014-0028

The world's top economy: the US vs China in five charts. (2019). Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/the-world-s-top-economy-the-us-vs-china-in-five-charts/

The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. (2019). Retrieved 15 August 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Zhao, Z., Xiong, W., & Fang, J. (2016). Impact of Internet plus to China Economy Development. Modern Economy, 07(09), 933-944. doi: 10.4236/me.2016.79096