Sociological Factors Influencing Life Chances in the Workplace

Self-evaluation:

In my workplace, I have experienced that experiences various changes in my life chances which has potential influence on improving the quality of life. Several sociological factors are associated with these changes in life chances that I have gone through in the workplace. One of the most common sociological factors that impacted on my opportunities, performance and skill is educational background. Although I have a strong academic background, I was poor knowledge in English, which makes it difficult for me to communicate with the higher official and peers in the workplace who have fluency in English. According to (), educational background is one of the most important sociological factors that impact on the professional opportunities for people in the professional filed can change the quality of their professional as well as personal life. During the first month of my joining, I have faced lots of difficulties in interacting with the team leaders and the team members as I was unable to use proper English to express my viewpoints. Due to the drawback I have to face bullying, abuse and bias in the workplace in which whitish staffs working in the same designation get more official advantages and preference of from the higher staffs. This event makes me determined to develop my English-speaking skill which will be effective interaction with staffs in my workplace. On the other hand, ethnicity is the other important sociological factors that have changed my life-chances in the workplace. I have experienced discrimination and bias regarding the job opportunities and protecting my rights due to the fact I being to the minority community of the under-developed country. Thus, sociological factors have not only impacted my professional life but also in my personal life. As stated by ()m ethnicity impact on the workplace opportunities for an individual in which staffs from the minority community are often devoid of getting equal opportunities’ have experienced that although I have done the same job more efficiently than a whitish staff in the workplace, while it comes to provide the better remuneration as well as incentive the whitish staffs always get the extra financial benefit than me. One of my positive experience regarding the changes in life chances, I would like today that, my workplace was free from any gender bias, in which both the females and males are treated equally. Being a girl, I had gained the same opportunities as that of male staff. Therefore, gender was not the sociological fact that impact adversely on my life chances, rather it makes me motivated to compete with the male staffs to get extra official opportunities. Social class and ethnicity are the two important sociological factors that have impacted on my life chances. As I am from a middle-class family background and South Asian country, I have been isolated by whitish team members. They rarely communicated with me, which had an adverse impact on my mentality as well as on my emotion. On the other, most of the times, I was devoid of getting proper information by the whitish team members regarding any discussion or discussion of the team. This affected my professional knowledge as well a skill. I was unable to adapt with the team members and they have unsupportive nature. Therefore, from the overall discussion, it can be stated that sociological factors such as ethnicity, gender, family background, educational background and health have a potential impact on life chances of a person in terms of impacting the quality of life.

Literature review:

Disease or illness is the health condition in which the body is unable to perform the normal functions. According to the definition made by the World Health organisation, health refers to condition of complete mental, physical and social wellbeing, in which people are free from any illness. As mentioned by Barton et al. (2016), many sociological approaches described the health illness differently. Based on the Marxist approach of the health illness, there is a strong association between the social class and health quality of people. Based on this approach, the state of being physically and mentally healthy is based on the opportunities and facilities that are gained by that social class in which the individual belongs to. In this context Benbow (2017) mentioned that, based on the Marxist approach of health and wellbeing, people residing in the lower social class are more prevalent towards the disease and illness. Based on the Marxist approaches of the health and disease, the people resisting in the lower social class are unable to afford high-quality treatment and modem clinical process in the hospitals, which makes them exposed to several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, heart failure and diabetes and respiratory disease. In addition to this the Marxist approach also stated that as compared to the lower-class people, the people residing in the upper social classes can get luxurious healthcare facilities and high-quality treatment process that improves the health and wellbeing. On the contrary Carstensen and Jungbauer-Gans (2016) argued that many people in the UK reside in the high-class society, still faces severe health issues such as obesity, weight gain, depression, cardiovascular disease and respiratory issues. In addition to this, many people reside in the lower economic class in the UK but have strong mental as well as physical condition. The reason for these exceptional classes can be explained by the Marxist approaches.

On the contrary to the Marxist approach, there is another sociological approach, the Functionalist approach, which linked the health and illness to the ability of an individual to work freely in the society and perform their responsibility (Ergler et al. 2017). Unlike the Marxists approach the Functionalist approach has stated that, if a person is healthy, It means the person can perform his or her duty in the society in an effective manner such a go to work, assists colleagues, peers and friend, pay tax, join the social gathering and sending quality times with the family members. In this context) mentioned ha, based on the Functionalist approach, people with ill health can perform those social roles in such a manner which will not fulfil their goals. The social roles that an individual with ill-health perform is mentioned as the sick role. As stated by Daykin et al. (2017), the functionalist approach has mentioned that, illness is associated with the social consequence, such as the ill person is unable to attend Any social occasions, cannot go to work and may not be able to meet their friend. Based on this approach it can be stated that ill health is associated with poor cooperation of society, family and friends that make people weak mentally as well as physically. On the contrary Fenelon and Danielsen (2016) argued that, although this approach has stated mentioned the sociological consequences and its impact on the health, functionalist approach considers that all the society have common beliefs, value and value consensus, which is far different from the practical society perspectives.

In this context, Fredriksen-Goldsen et al. (2017) mentioned that there is different health pattern in various society that differ in their perspectives, culture, opinion, values and beliefs. The Marxists approach has mentioned ha how the economic differences in various social class can impact on health and wellbeing of people. By using the Marxist approach of health and illness it can be stated that people residing in different society have a different economic condition that not only impact on their living standard but also on their state of being healthy and fit. On the contrary Garthwaite et al. (2016) argued that, although the Marxist approach has represented the strong connection between social class and the health, it is unable to highlight the other social factors such as culture, values and, beliefs and social conflict can impact on the health and wellbeing of people. Evidence-based studies have shown that health patron is different based on the culture, values, education, living standard, perspectives and beliefs in a different society. For example, high-class society has all types of advantages such as educational facilities, healthcare facilities and high living standard, which assist the two have positive values, decision and innovative approaches in their society. On the other hand, on the lower-class society, people are devoid of proper education, social support and health literacy which makes them have superstitious beliefs, illogical decisions and unethical beliefs that pose an adverse impact on the mental and the physical health. On the contrary James (2019) argued that Marxist approach although can highlight the social class and its connection with different health pattern in the society, it is unable to highlight sociological factors that reside in the society impacting on health such as discrimination, education, gender bias, poor value and lack of governmental and social support. While describing the different health pattern in various society, Functionalist approach has only highlighted how different social consequences impact on the heal ad welling of people. Based on this approach the ill health of people is associated with the poor social connection, poor ability to perform social activities and lack of social support. On the contrary Hayward et al. (2016) argued that Functionalist approach although is able to highlight how the ill health make people unable to make strong connection with the society, it is unable to highlight how the differences in culture, perspectives and values in different society makes different health pattern. Based on this aspect it can be stated that, health and wellbeing are associated with interaction of human with is society. In different society the types of interaction of people are different which impact on the factors of being healthy such as biological factors, environmental factors and social factors. In the higher-class society people have fresh air, good education, proper family and social support, health care facilities and government support that are sufficient to meet all their needs as compared to the lower-class society in which most of the people struggle for existence with having huge list unmet health needs.

From the overall discussion, it can be stated that health of people is defined as the state of having complete mental, physical and social wellbeing, health is associated with the connection of people with their society that impacts on their perspectives, decision, values, biology, mentality and behaviours. There are many health patterns in different society due to the difference in culture, values, perception, tradition and behaviour. People with ill health have limited access to social resources, which not only impact on the mental condition but also their physical condition. Therefore, it can be stated that if people need to have healthy mind as well as body, they need to get proper social as well as family support in term of improving their health and wellbeing which assist them to perform their regular activities.

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