Deck 14: Health and Medicine

Question 1

Which of the following statements is not true regarding the difference between the medical and sociological approach to health and illness?

A) The medical approach to health and illness involves diagnosis and treatment of physical causes of disease based on the application of scientific knowledge.
B) The sociological approach focuses on the role of cultural factors and social structures in the health of individuals and populations.
C) For medical professionals, health is a biological condition-the absence of physical symptoms and ailments.
D) For sociologists, health is socially constructed, as is evidenced by different understandings and categories of health in different societies.
E) None of the above

Answer 1

E

Question 2

According to Chapter 14, what is health?

A) An infrequent condition in human existence.
B) The likelihood at any given moment that a particular individual or group of individuals is not manifesting a particular set of symptoms (i.e. coughing, aching, or fever).
C) The normal functioning of an organism, which varies based on the society's conception of 'normal' and the so-called good life.
D) A spiritual state in which the individual is completely at peace with their body and surroundings.
E) All of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Chapter 14, what is medicine?

A) A field of science devoted to diagnosing and treating bodily ailments.
B) A social institution that allows the study of how cultural processes act as a form of social regulation or control of the body.
C) Pills, antibiotics, and inoculations approved by the Federal Drug Administration.
D) Both a and b, but not c
E) None of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What is meant by the term 'medicalization of deviance'?

A) The way in which the field of medicine has come to understand all individuals who commit crimes as being somehow ill, either mentally or physically.
B) The way in which time in a mental institution has replaced prison time as a means of punishment in postmodern society.
C) The way in which medicine has taken over some functions previously designated to religion and the law in defining what is desirable or normal, and what is deviant.
D) Both a and c, but not b.
E) None of the above

Question 5

What is meant by Talcott Parsons's theory of sickness as deviance and the sick role?

A) Parsons viewed sickness as a social role with expectations. It is a form of deviance because it exempts a person from their normal responsibilities.
B) Parsons's theory challenged the biological nature of sickness. He argued that the root cause of all sickness was mental, and thus all a lie used to exempt people from their responsibilities.
C) Parsons was concerned with the increased number of individuals who called in sick to work, even when they weren't sick. The sick role distinguished individuals who were legitimately sick from deviant sickness, where the individual lied.
D) Parsons refers to the use of bioterrorism in postmodern society and the role of sickness in postmodern international relations.
E) None of the above

Question 6

Which of the following is not a criticism of Parsons's theory of the sick role?

A) The concept of the sick role is temporary; Parsons does not address chronic illnesses and other acute conditions.
B) Parsons implies that the sick role is voluntary; when in some cases it is resisted, in others it is unattainable.
C) Not everyone can be classified as sick.
D) In Parsons's theory, the sick person cannot be blamed for their status, when sometimes it is the consequence of lifestyle.
E) None of the above

Question 7

According to Chapter 14, the formation of the American Medical Association played an important role in the cultural construction of health and illness. What was the main outcome?

A) Salaries for medical professionals increased, creating even larger disparities in health care provision in the United States.
B) A biomedical model (and its values, beliefs and assumptions) was accepted as the dominant model for health and health care.
C) Health care procedures and policies were standardized. Routine and complex procedures were offered in nearly every hospital, thus making health care more accessible.
D) Actually, there was no significant outcome.
E) None of the above

Question 8

Which of the following is a component of the biomedical model?

A) Dichotomization of mind and body
B) Physical reductionism
C) Specific etiology
D) Regimen of control
E) All of the above

Question 9

Which of the following is not an example of so-called 'alternative medicine'?

A) Spiritual healing
B) Chiropractics
C) Homeopathy
D) Ophthalmology
E) None of the above

Question 10

According to Chapter 14, how does Robert Putnam's concept of civic community relate to health?

A) Putnam argues that individuals are healthier in tightly-knit communities because they are more likely to take care of one another when they are sick.
B) Health is a prerequisite for participation in a civic community.
C) Putnam doesn't discuss how civic community relates to health, but his findings suggest that there is a relationship between social integration and the health and success of an individual.
D) There is no relationship between civic community and health.
E) None of the above

Question 11

Life expectancy is traditionally a measure used to gage overall quality of life in a country, based on the average number of years lived by people born in the same year. In 2000, the World Health Organization developed a new measure called the 'Healthy Life Expectancy.' What did this new measure help to show?

A) Years lost to disability are much higher in poorer countries, due in part to the kind of diseases that affect these populations, combined with a lack of resources.
B) The United States ranked highest among the 191 countries.
C) Number of hours at work had no bearing on individuals' health or life expectancy.
D) Low cost birth control would double the life expectancy in sub-Saharan African countries.
E) All of the above

Question 12

What is the morbidity rate?

A) The number of deaths in a given society in a particular time frame.
B) The amount of illness in a given society in a particular time frame.
C) The amount of graphic violence portrayed per hour of mass media technology.
D) The number of individuals suffering from mental illness in a given society in a particular time frame.
E) None of the above

Question 13

High viral infection rates in Africa can be attributed to:

A) Maldistribution of drugs and medicines.
B) Income inequalities.
C) Changing racial patterns
D) All of the above
E) a and b only

Question 14

What is the mortality rate?

A) The number of deaths in a given society in a particular time frame.
B) The amount of illness in a given society in a particular time frame.
C) The amount of graphic violence portrayed per hour of mass media technology.
D) The number of individuals suffering from mental illness in a given society in a particular time frame.
E) None of the above

Question 15

Black Americans have a significant lower life expectancy than white Americans. According to Chapter 14, which of the following is not a reason for this difference?

A) Black Americans are prone to certain hereditary genetically transmitted diseases.
B) The infant mortality rate for Black Americans is more than double that of white Americans.
C) Black Americans ancestors suffered from years of poor health and living conditions, and this weakness has been passed down from generation to generation.
D) Black Americans suffer undue stress as a result of racial discrimination and minority status experienced by black mothers.
E) None of the above

Question 16

Women are more likely than men to seek medical consultation and take prescribed drugs. Which of the following factors does not explain this phenomenon?

A) It is more socially acceptable for women to verbalize complaints about sickness.
B) Women are expected to be more interested in basic health matters as a part of their intrinsic nature to mother.
C) Doctors expect women to report their symptoms, and thus they are more inclined to diagnose them.
D) Women are biochemically predisposed to more physical ailments then men.
E) All of the above

Question 17

Depression is more often treated in women than in men, though according to the National Institute of Mental Health, men are affected in high numbers. What explains this discrepancy?

A) Women are more likely than men to report their condition.
B) Mental health experts have focused their attention on women, and in doing so, have lost sight of how to identify the condition in men.
C) Alcoholism and drug abuse are more likely to obscure the condition in men.
D) Men are socialized not to express emotional distress, and are thus more likely to deny ever having had a period of two weeks or more where they felt sad or blue.
E) All of the above

Question 18

In what ways have sociologists contributed to understanding the progress of health and medicine in the twentieth century?

A) Sociologists studied the nature of scientific medical knowledge.
B) Sociologists studied the professionalization of medical practice.
C) Sociologists studied the reindustrialization of medical practice.
D) Both a and b, but not c
E) None of the above

Question 19

Which of the following is a new area of interest for sociology of medicine in the postmodern, 21^st century?

A) A new emphasis on the roles of physician and patient within the institution of medicine.
B) The emphasis on the unity of mind and body.
C) An interest in the detailed study of interactions within health settings, such as hospitals.
D) A renewed interest in class as it determines access to health care.
E) All of the above

Question 20

How might globalization affect the construction of health and medicine, and how it is sociologically researched?

A) Globalization can lead to even wider inequalities if poor nations are exploited by multinational corporations.
B) Environmental pollution is an increasing health problem as multinational companies transfer their polluting processes overseas.
C) The possible commercialization of medical care may eliminate the model of the professional doctor who is able to make medical decisions without corporate pressure.
D) Multinational corporations sometimes behave irresponsibly in matters such as off-loading drugs that are banned in the West on poorer nations, thus further harming these nations.
E) All of the above

Question 21

According to some researchers, why are children of particular concern when it comes to studies of health, the environment, and climate change?

A) Children are still developing and will suffer from long-term exposure to these problems.
B) There is an imbalance between the mortality rate and the fertility rate, where mortality is higher. We could suffer a population crisis if a large population of children dies young.
C) The loss of a child is utterly unbearable, and has wide reaching effects on the whole society.
D) There is no concern. Children are equally susceptible to environmental factors as adults.
E) None of the above

Question 22

Health is a fixed, scientific category.

Question 23

Medical sociology takes as its central focus something that scientific medicine has long ignored: that social inequalities are important in explaining health and illness in modern societies.

Question 24

Emile Durkheim considered the sick role a form of deviance because it exempts people from their normal social obligations and responsibilities.

Question 25

A label that changes the way an individual is viewed in society, particularly in a negative manner is called a stigma.

Question 26

One of the principle assumptions of the biomedical model that is dominant in Western medicine is that there is a separation between mind and body, where illness is in the body in isolation of the mind.

Question 27

Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy of any nation, at less than half of the world's average life expectancy.

Question 28

In spite of the dominance of the biomedical model in Western medicine, there has been a revival of interest in forms of healing other than those offered by scientific medicine-including spiritual healing.

Question 29

According to Chapter 14, and contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that material deprivation has minimal effect on morbidity and mortality. Surprisingly, the greatest factor is education.

Question 30

Some of the variation of mortality and morbidity rates between racial groups can be explained by hereditary genetic illnesses.

Question 31

In all Western societies, male life expectancy is higher than that of females due to the risks women face in pregnancy and childbirth.

Question 32

Though women are more likely than men to seek help for depression, depression appears to take a greater toll on men.