Sociology: A Brief Introduction – Chapter15 – Flashcards
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Health
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State of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
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Sick role
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Functionalist - Talcott Parsons. Societal expectations about the attitudes and behavior of a person viewed as being ill. - Exempted from their normal, day-to-day responsibilities and generally do not suffer blame for their condition - Obligated to try to get well - arises from the common view that illness is dysfunctional because it can undermine social stability.
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Gatekeepers
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Physicians - They verify a patient's condition either as "illness" or "recovered". Physician-patient relationship is somewhat like that between parent and child.
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Conflict Perspective
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Eliot Freidson. The position of medicine today similar to state religions yesterday - has an officially approved monopoly of the right to define health and illness and to treat illness.
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Medicalization of society
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The growing role of medicine as a major institution of social control.
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How medicine manifests its social control
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1. Medicine has greatly expanded its domain or expertise in recent decades. Significance: Once a problem is viewed using a medical model, it becomes more difficult for common people to join the discussion and exert influence on decision making. 2. Medicine serves as an agent of social control by retaining absolute jurisdiction over many health care procedures.
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Medical Model
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Medical experts become influential in proposing and assessing relevant public policies
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Brain Drain
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The immigration to the US and other industrialized nations of skilled workers, professionals, and technicians who are desperately needed in their home countries.
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Infant mortality rate
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The number of deaths of infants under 1 yr old per 1000 live births in a given yr.
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Interactionist Perspective
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Interested in how physicians learn to play their occupational role. Brenda L. Beagan - The technical language, familiar white coat. Sometimes patients play an active role in health care by failing to follow a physician's advice. Sometimes patients' active involvement in their health care can sometimes have very positive consequences.
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Labeling Perspective
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Helps us to understand why certain people are viewed as deviants, "bad kids," or criminals, whereas others whose behavior is similar are not. Health care professionals have the power to define certain people as sick.
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Social epidemiology
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The study of the distribution of disease, impairment, and general health status across a population.
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Incidence
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The number of new cases of a specific disorder that occur within a given population during a stated period, usually a yr.
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Prevalence
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The total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at t given time.
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Morbidity rate
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The incidence of disease in a given population.
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Mortality rate
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The incidence of death in a given population.
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Race & Ethnicity
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Conflict perspective - Howard Waitzkin - racial tensions also contribute to the medical problems of Blacks.
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curanderismo
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Traditional Latin folk medicine - a form of holistic health care and healing
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Gender
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Women experience higher prevalence of many illnesses, though they tend to live longer. (Lower rate of cigarette smoking, lower consumption of alcohol, lower rate of employment in dangerous occupations, more likely than men to seek treatment) But particularly vulnerable to the medicalization of society, with every thing from birth to beauty being treated in an increasingly medical context.
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McDonaldization
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The process through which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society.
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Holistic medicine
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Therapies in which the health care practitioner considers the person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual characteristics. The individual is regarded as a totality rather than a collection of interrelated organ systems.
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First significant involvement of Gov
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1946 Hill-Burton Act - Provided subsidies for building and improving hospitals, especially in rural areas.
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Enactment in 1965
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Two wide-ranging gov assistance programs: Medicare - a compulsory health insurance plan for the elderly. Medicaid - a noncontributory federal and state insurance plan for the poor
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The 2010 Affordable Care Act
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Improved health insurance coverage for people of all ages, especially young adults, who were allowed to remain longer on their parents' policies.
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Human ecology
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An area of study that is concerned with the interrelationships between people and their environment.
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Ecological modernization
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An approach that emerged in the 1980s, focus on the alignment of environmentally favorable practices with economic self-interest through constant adaptation and restructuring.
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Environmental justice
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A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards."New civil rights of the 21st century."
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Environmental refugees
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People who have been displaced by rising seas, expanding deserts, water shortages, and high levels of toxic pollutants. Europe in particular is beginning to see an influx of such immigrants from developing nations.
