Learning Cultural Beliefs Through Social Constructionist Perspective

This paper will discuss the conflict, social constructionist and the systems theory in details and also my cultural experience in Madrid Spain. The culture practices in Madrid Spain are different from those in the United States ranging from the food, dressing code, religious traditions, honoring the dead, baptisms, birthdays and weddings. Most of the people in Spanish do not own cars and therefore walking is common.

The earliest the Spanish people take dinner is at 9 pm and coming from the United States; it seemed like a struggle to me. In Madrid Spain, their common food is fish and bread. The Spanish people set time during the day to sleep. The Spaniards have an outstanding way of dressing which is lovely and elegant as compared to the mode of dressing in the United States. In Spain I realized that a few pubs and bars discriminated based on races with a policy that states whites only. When a tourist speaks good English in Spain, he feels more welcomed as compared to a tourist who speaks Spanish. Weddings are common events which bring different cultures together to celebrate. I attended a friend’s wedding ceremony on a Saturday in Madrid Spain two weeks ago. I realized that the Spaniards marry for love as compared to our culture where social class is a factor to consider when marrying. This wedding had no brides’ maids, groomsmen, maid of honor or best man. When exchanging the rings, the newlyweds wore their rings on the ring fingers of their right hands while our newlyweds wear on the left hand. A lace mantilla accompanied the bride's dress to the hair, and the groom was allowed to give the bride’s father a watch.

The wedding rite begun with the exchanging of 13coins made of gold which are said to symbolize Jesus and his 12 disciples. The gold coins also represent dowry and the assurance that the groom will support his bride. Firecrackers are used when the couple exit the church and at the reception, guests perform the seguidillas manchegas dance. These cultural practices were different but through interaction, dancing along and understanding their cultural beliefs became easier. In Spanish weddings, dinner is taken late in the evening, and the ceremony continues until the next morning. The systems perspective views a person’s behavior as the outcome one encounters as they interact within related social systems. The systems structures and processes like roles and rules are essential when it comes to ensuring the system's stability (Hutchison, 2018). A role can be defined as the normal behavior a person with a specific social position has.

The scarcity of resources has a significant impact on the well –being of a family. Fathers are the head of the families, and when a father is unemployed in the modern era, he is always viewed as a lazy person by some people in the society. In Spain, women do much of unpaid labor as compared to men, and these activities range from raising the children and doing domestic chores. A woman who is working in Spain has to get permission from the husband, and she is not exempted from the roles she is supposed to play for the family. The conflict perspective looks for the causes of both conflict and human behavior in the economic, political and social arena. The conflict theory focuses more on the economic structures as suggested by Max Weber and Friedrich Engels(Hutchison, 2018). According to Weber and Engels, the capitalist financial system is subdivided into workers and capitalists. Capitalists are the owners of the products while the workers are the source of labor. In the society, oppression of the weak and poor and dominance are examples of conflict perspectives. Most workers are paid wages that do not correspond to the work they do, and this is termed as oppression. There is also discrimination based on races, gender, color, and sexual orientation.

The police in Spain discriminate in checkpoints as the people who do not look Spanish are stopped more by the police. The restaurant employees are entitled to health benefits and living wages, and therefore there is no need to tip them. However, only the Americans are allowed to give the Spanish restaurant workers tips. Many workers have used the conflict perspective to increase their power through taking actions on injustice and inequality practices. Social constructionist perspective is defined as the ability of people to learn by interacting with each other. People are termed as social beings who can easily share the different understanding they have about the world. Social constructionist perspective views human consciousness as the driving force of social interaction (Margrate, 2014). The two weeks I spend in Madrid Spain was a learning experience for me because, through interaction, I understood their cultural beliefs, mode of dressing, the foods they eat and the time for the siesta.