Deck 15: Health and the Environment

Question 1

Sociologist Talcott Parsons suggests that the doctor-patient relationship is somewhat like that between

A) parent and child.
B) peers.
C) teacher and students.
D) nurse and patient.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which sociological perspective would emphasize how inequalities in health care have clear life-and-death consequences for some due to the unequal distribution of resources?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) global perspective

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In what year did the American Psychiatric Association vote to drop homosexuality from the standard manual on mental disorders?

A) 1954
B) 1964
C) 1974
D) 1984

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The medicalization of society refers to the

A) growing role of medicine as a major institution of social control.
B) dominance of hospitals by boards of directors with medical backgrounds.
C) election of medical specialists to high offices in government.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 5

What term refers to the process of medical experts becoming influential in proposing and assessing relevant public policies?

A) medical matrix
B) medical model
C) medical maze
D) medical monolith

Question 6

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants under 1 year old per ________ live births in a given year.

A) 100
B) 1,000
C) 10,000
D) 100,000

Question 7

Out of the following nations, which has the highest infant mortality rate?

A) Canada
B) Japan
C) Sweden
D) United States

Question 8

Just as police and judges can define certain people as criminal, so can health care professionals define who is "sick." This power is described by

A) the sick role.
B) medicalization.
C) labeling theory.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 9

Which of the following is a way in which medicine manifests its social control?

A) through a greatly expanded domain of expertise
B) by retaining absolute jurisdiction over many health care procedures
C) by spending more, comparably, on advertising
D) both through a greatly expanded domain of expertise and by retaining absolute jurisdiction over many health care procedures

Question 10

The immigration to the U.S. of skilled workers, professionals, and technicians who are desperately needed in their home countries is referred to as

A) medicalization.
B) techno-flow.
C) brain drain.
D) golden opportunity.

Question 11

Which sociologist developed the concept of the sick role?

A) Émile Durkheim
B) Eliot Freidson
C) Karl Marx
D) Talcott Parsons

Question 12

Which sociologist has likened the position of medicine to that of state religions of yesterday, in that it has an officially approved monopoly of the right to define health and illness and to treat illness?

A) Émile Durkheim
B) Eliot Freidson
C) Karl Marx
D) Talcott Parsons

Question 13

As of 2005, how much bottled water did the U.S. consume annually?

A) over 225 million gallons
B) over 675 million gallons
C) over 1.5 billion gallons
D) over 7.5 billion gallons

Question 14

The concept of the sick role is associated with which perspective?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) global perspective

Question 15

Which theoretical perspective views medicine as a form of social control?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 16

Today, the United States has about 24 physicians per 10,000 people, while African nations have fewer than ________ physicians per 10,000 people.

A) 1
B) 5
C) 12
D) 17

Question 17

Your textbook refers to "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity" as

A) euphoria.
B) health.
C) happiness.
D) well-being.

Question 18

An individual determines whether or not he or she is healthy based on

A) objective and agreed-upon criteria established by the medical community.
B) criteria established by themselves; their relatives, friends, and coworkers; and medical practitioners.
C) criteria established by the World Health Organization.
D) body temperature.

Question 19

Talcott Parsons believed physicians function as ________ for the sick role by verifying a patient's condition as illness or designating the patient as recovered.

A) functionalists
B) gatekeepers
C) negotiators
D) ambassadors

Question 20

Which sociological perspective suggests that the term medicalization of society refers to the growing role of medicine as a major institution of social control?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) labeling perspective

Question 21

Research in the United States and other countries has consistently shown that people in the lower classes have

A) lower mortality rates.
B) higher rates of mortality and disability.
C) lower rates of cancer and heart disease.
D) both higher rates of mortality and disability and lower rates of cancer and heart disease.

Question 22

Mexican Americans may interpret their illnesses according to traditional practices and seek treatment in the form of curanderismo, which refers to

A) satanic worship.
B) euthanasia.
C) holistic health care.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 23

Which of the following is true about the health care Latinos receive?

A) Health care is poor due to cultural differences.
B) Latinos receive more preventive care from primary physicians.
C) Latinos are more likely to seek treatment in clinics and emergency rooms.
D) It is a myth that Latinos' cultural beliefs affect their use of the health care system.

Question 24

When did the American Medical Association come into being, after which it began attacking "lay" doctors and institutionalized its authority through standardized programs of education and licensing?

A) 1788
B) 1848
C) 1902
D) 1934

Question 25

Which sociological perspective would be most likely to argue that policymakers have been slow to respond to the AIDS crisis because those in high-risk groups, such as gay men and intravenous drug users, are comparatively powerless?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) global perspective

Question 26

What percentage of Hispanics are estimated to rely upon home remedies?

A) 20 percent
B) 35 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 75 percent

Question 27

Mortality rates are the

A) incidence of diseases in a given population.
B) number of new cases of a specific disorder occurring within a given population during a stated period of time.
C) incidence of death in a given population.
D) total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at a given time.

Question 28

What percent of U.S. citizens ages 65 and over are afflicted by Alzheimer's disease?

A) 4 percent
B) 10 percent
C) 13 percent
D) 19 percent

Question 29

NIH-sponsored national surveys found that what percentage of adults used some form of alternative medicine including prayer?

A) 16 percent
B) 32 percent
C) 47 percent
D) 62 percent

Question 30

In what year did the U.S. government enact both Medicare and Medicaid-two national health care programs receiving federal funding?

A) 1945
B) 1955
C) 1965
D) 1975

Question 31

In the United States, the fear of contracting AIDS has likely led to changes in sexual behavior among both homosexuals and heterosexuals. Which sociological perspective would focus on these changes in sexual relationships?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) feminist perspective

Question 32

Which type of medicine refers to therapies in which the health care practitioner considers the person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual characteristics?

A) traditional
B) ayurveda
C) holistic
D) homeopathy

Question 33

The number of people infected with HIV worldwide in 2013 was

A) 35 thousand.
B) 3 million.
C) 300 million.
D) 35 million.

Question 34

Social epidemiology is defined as the

A) total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at a given time.
B) total number of communicable diseases that exist at a given time.
C) study of the distribution of disease, impairment, and general health status across a population.
D) total number of cases of infant deaths for a given population during a specific period of time.

Question 35

In examining health, illness, and medicine as a social institution, which sociological perspective generally focuses on micro-level study of the roles played by health care professionals and patients?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) global perspective

Question 36

Morbidity rates are the

A) incidence of diseases in a given population.
B) number of new cases of a specific disorder occurring within a given population during a stated period of time.
C) incidence of death in a given population.
D) total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at a given time.

Question 37

Which of the following has been a barrier for research on women's health?

A) Women do not want to be researched.
B) Women have often been excluded from medical studies.
C) Medical research is difficult to do on women.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 38

In the view of which theorist do capitalist societies such as that of the United States care more about maximizing profits than they do about the health and safety of industrial workers?

A) Harold Garfinkel
B) Leonard Stein
C) Talcott Parsons
D) Karl Marx

Question 39

Which psychiatrist stated that nurses are to perform their duties without challenging the authority of male doctors, a process referred to as the doctor-nurse game?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) Leonard Stein
C) Alfred Adler
D) William Glasser

Question 40

Sociologist Howard Waitzkin suggested that racial tensions helped explain which of the following?

A) breast cancer
B) diabetes
C) hypertension
D) lung disease

Question 41

The acronym NIMBY stands for

A) "never intervening maliciously before yesterday."
B) "nuclear interests may bury you."
C) "not in my backyard."
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 42

Who among the following suggested a capitalist system creates a "treadmill of production" because of its inherent need to build ever-expanding profits?

A) Karl Marx
B) Allan Schnaiberg
C) Rachel Carson
D) Paul Ehrlich

Question 43

A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards is referred to as

A) environmental prejudice.
B) treadmill production.
C) principled injustice.
D) environmental justice.

Question 44

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008

A) established the first federal role in treating mental illness.
B) established standard criteria for diagnosing mental disorders.
C) established government-sponsored community-based mental health centers.
D) required insurers to extend comparable benefits for mental and physical health care.

Question 45

Culture contributes to differences in medical care and even how health is defined.

Question 46

Which environmentalist suggests the primary cause of environmental ills is the increasing use of technological innovations?

A) Karl Marx
B) Barry Commoner
C) Rachel Carson
D) Paul Ehrlich

Question 47

Which of the following is true of public perceptions about mental illness in the U.S. since 1950?

A) People have become less likely to associate "violence" with "mental illness."
B) The general public has become less sophisticated about mental illness.
C) People have turned more often to holistic remedies for mental illnesses.
D) The general public has become more open to disclosure, recognition, and response to mental health problems.

Question 48

Medicine serves as an agent of social control by retaining absolute jurisdiction over many health care procedures.

Question 49

Each year, how many acres of forest are cleared for crops and livestock?

A) 500,000 acres
B) 850,000 acres
C) 1.3 million acres
D) 5.7 million acres

Question 50

To date, 191 countries-not including the U.S.-are party to which agreement intended to reduce global emissions of heat-trapped gases?

A) NAFTA
B) IMF Relief Fund
C) Kyoto Protocol
D) Warsaw Pact

Question 51

The industrialized nations of North America and Europe account for only 12 percent of the world's population but are responsible for what percentage of the world's consumption?

A) 30 percent
B) 40 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 60 percent

Question 52

The Exxon Valdez incident in 1989 illustrates the nature of

A) air pollution.
B) water pollution.
C) nuclear contamination.
D) land pollution.

Question 53

Erin Brockovich, a movie that features Julia Roberts, examines a true-life event that revolved around environmental pollution in a working-class community by a major utility corporation that was apparently unconcerned about the long-term effects of the pollution on community residents. This movie illustrates which sociological concept?

A) environmental racism
B) environmental justice
C) demographic transition
D) demographic intransigence

Question 54

What reason do skeptics of conflict-based explanations give for why 43 percent of the people who live within 1 mile of hazardous waste treatment facilities in the U.S. do so?

A) Racial and ethnic minorities possess less power than others.
B) Economics and discriminatory forces push them to live in these places.
C) They like to live there due to low housing prices.
D) They choose to live in these ecological oases.

Question 55

Which group makes up 43% of the people in the U.S. who live within one mile of dangerous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities?

A) welfare recipients
B) African Americans
C) Latinos
D) non-Whites and Latinos

Question 56

Which perspective would place a priority on the fact that many major environmental organizations accept funding from oil companies and chemical giants and as a result emphasize limited reform rather than profound structural change?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) feminist perspective

Question 57

In what year did Medicare become so expensive that the federal government introduced a price-control system?

A) 1983
B) 1975
C) 1990
D) 1993

Question 58

Patients' judgments regarding their own state of health may be related to their gender, age, social class, race, and ethnicity.

Question 59

Which area of study is concerned with the interrelationships among people in their spatial setting and physical environment?

A) human relations approach
B) human ecology
C) activity theory
D) humanism

Question 60

Which critic of environmental policies notes that capitalist societies have increasing demands for products, for obtaining natural resources at minimal costs, and for manufacturing products as quickly and cheaply as possible-no matter what the long-term environmental consequences will be?

A) Karl Marx
B) Allan Schnaiberg
C) Rachel Carson
D) Paul Ehrlich

Question 61

Discuss the economic and racial dimensions of health insurance within the United States today. How do issues such as immigration, life spans, and the institutionalization of medicine play into the issue? Also, be sure to provide solution(s) you feel the U.S. should adopt so that more people are provided with health care.

Question 62

Differentiate the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist views on the issue of health. Give examples to support your answer.

Question 63

The irony of midwives is that they first brought professionalism to child delivery, yet today they are portrayed as invading the legitimate field of obstetrics.

Question 64

Environmental justice is a legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards.

Question 65

Contributing to our environmental problems is that we as consumers want inexpensive clothes and toys; yet we as citizens condemn developing countries for depending on coal-fired power plants.

Question 66

What role do you feel globalization plays in our current environmental problems? Discuss the positive and negative attributes globalization brings to the issue of pollution. Finally, construct a contemporary plan for addressing environmental pollution that includes economic, cultural, and ecological concerns.

Question 67

Discuss holistic medicine and how it compares and contrasts with traditional Western medicine. Describe the future you envision for "alternative" medicine in the West.

Question 68

The medical model of mental illness suggests that some behaviors that are viewed as mental illnesses may not really be illnesses.

Question 69

Younger people are more likely to be hospitalized than elderly people, due to the lifestyles and risks taken more often by young people compared to older people.

Question 70

Women have shorter life spans due to their lifestyle choices.