With reference to contemporary Britain and one other society, explain ways in which the societies are held together through common cultures but are also unequal and divided.

Culture puts characteristic of individual people including aspects of music, food, education, health, government, language and family as its core subject matter. Live Science (2017). The UK is comprised of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Island. Great Britain (GB) however, does not include Northern Island. The Columbia Encyclopaedia (2017) The DR shares territory with Haiti, on two-thirds of the island called Hispaniola in the eastern region. Stalker. P (2010) P89.

A potential conflict within the UK that may cause divide and inequality is the privatisation of the National Health Service (NHS) because although public opinion with regards to the NHS remaining a nationalised entity is at an all-time high, Smith. M. (2017), the current conservative government have been making substantial steps to privatise the NHS. The UK has a two-tier system of healthcare available, public and private health care. Private healthcare is only accessible to the vibrant and privileged and with it comes excellent advantages such as shorter waiting times, private rooms, better food, and even medication that isn’t available to NHS patients. BUPA (2017).

Public health specialist and sociologist, Hillary Graham (2004) argues that private health care creates health inequalities by denying services to the poor. The conservative government steps to privatise the NHS could result in the further stratification of society by exploiting the poor and creating a new underclass of individuals unable to afford healthcare. On the other hand, politicians (namely right winged) believe privatising the NHS is the only way to sustain the service due to a growing older population who require more health care.

A common trait with public services in the DR is that sectors are massively underfunded. There is no exception when it comes to public healthcare. The implication of non-existent healthcare means that family values are more intertwined with culture and could potentially lead to a stronger, more held together family than that of