Concept Analysis Sociology Coursework (Coursework Sample)

Sociology: 4 Questions
1. Lia Lee’s parents believed that their daughter’s illness was caused by evil spirits who were trying to control her soul (418). They attributed her ailment to foreign agency, and this influenced their interpretation of the medical professionals’ actions. They did not see western medicine as the appropriate cure and may have even seen it as interference with the real healing, which only shamanic rituals can provide (418). Lia Lee’s symptoms of illness were categorized by the doctors as symptoms of a well-established physical disease – epilepsy (418). This is the meaning that the symptoms had for them. The parents’ actions then seemed counter-productive from this perspective and potentially harmful.
2. The areas of cultural competence students are required to engage in include cultural self-examination, empathetic listening and questioning of patients, respect of patients’ conceptions of health and illness, and the recognition or cultural and racial bias and its elimination from the healthcare setting. The AAMC also lists the “epidemiology of population health,” “patient-centred care vs. physician-centred care,” cultural issues and challenges facing institutions, and “information on the history of the patient and their community of people” as target areas for the training of medical students (AAMC 9).
3. The Little Village implosion incident and its aftermath showcase a conflict between corporate interests and the interests of the local community damaged by the actions of Hilco Redevelopment Partners. The latter was commissioned by Target to build a warehouse and distribution plant on the vacated land after the demolition of the Crawford coal plant. The two sides are fighting over the use of land and its development, job opportunities, and the local environment, including air quality and soil quality. Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Target are motivated by interest in land development and profit. They stand accused of sacrificing the lives, health, and safety of the local community members for the sake of profit. The Little Village community members alleged that the implosion caused at least one direct casualty, severe air and soil contamination, and eroded the trust of community members who were not informed on time about the actions of Hilco to be able to protect themselves (Camarillo 2021). They demand racial and environmental justice and equal consideration, relative to the larger Chicago community (Cherone 2021). They want the vacated land to be used for the development of better job opportunities for members of the Southeast side communities (Paddock 2021). They reject the prospect of further exploitative working conditions in warehouses of the kind envisioned by Target and demand alternatives such as the building of a solar workforce training site or community kitchens (Camarillo 2021). Finally, the local city government, as another stakeholder in the conflict, has been pressured into drafting new regulations requiring engagement with residents in the affected communities before permits for re-development can be issued in the future (Cherone 2021).
4. Jacqueline Patterson cites studies which show that 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal plant and 71% live in polluted environmental conditions, failing existing air pollution regulations (Goodman 2017). Air pollution is a known causal contributor to serious respiratory conditions and asthma. Not coincidentally, communities of color are disproportionately affected by chronic respiratory conditions, and African American children are “three to five times more likely” to be hospitalized for asthma attacks (Goodman 2017). She connects these general observations to her own experience growing up in close proximity to three co