Sociology of Health and Illness
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
The Sociology of Health and Illness explores the complex interplay between society, culture, and health. This course examines how social factors such as class, race, gender, and ethnicity influence health outcomes, access to healthcare, and perceptions of illness. Students will analyze how health and illness are socially constructed and how medical knowledge and healthcare institutions reflect and reinforce societal norms and inequalities. Topics include the social determinants of health, health disparities, the patient experience, the role of healthcare professionals, and the impact of globalization and policy on public health. Through sociological theories and empirical case studies, students will gain a deeper understanding of the forces shaping health and illness in contemporary societies.
Recommended Textbook
The Sociology of Health Illness and Health Care A Critical Approach 7th Edition by Rose Weitz
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13 Chapters
358 Verified Questions
358 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care
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21 Verified Questions
21 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Before 1900, the most common causes of death in the United States were
A)chronic diseases.
B)infectious diseases.
C)accidents and trauma.
D)infant and maternal mortality.
E)diseases of old age.
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following research projects would someone who engages in the sociology of medicine be mostly likely to pursue?
A)how doctors' attitudes result in poorer persons receiving worse health care than wealthier persons
B)how poor people's attitudes toward doctors result in their receiving a lower quality of care than wealthier persons receive
C)why poor persons develop arthritis more often than wealthier persons
D)how individuals' attitudes toward risk-taking affect whether they follow medical advice
E)why wealthier persons live longer on average than poor persons
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: The Social Sources of Modern Illness
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Toxic agents
A)are especially dangerous to children.
B)are contributing to climate change.
C)can be prevented by developing a "risk society."
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
Answer: A
Q2) According to McGinnis and Foege, the most common cause of premature deaths is A)illegal drugs.
B)diet and exercise.
C)AIDS.
D)tobacco.
E)microbial agents.
Answer: D
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Social Distribution of Illness in the United States
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25 Verified Questions
25 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Paying for health care for the elderly will likely become more difficult in coming years because of
A)declining rates of infant mortality.
B)social class differences between whites and African Americans.
C)the Hispanic paradox.
D)the feminization of aging.
E)internal colonization.
Answer: D
Q2) Corporate decisions to locate polluting industries in minority neighborhoods are referred to as
A)environmental justice.
B)environmental racism.
C)internal socialization.
D)mainstreaming.
E)downsizing.
Answer: B
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5
Chapter 4: Illness and Death in Less Developed Nations
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Armed conflict can leave civilians with A)infertility due to rape.
B)long term disability.
C)psychological trauma.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Q2) HIV/AIDS is especially common in Africa in part because of high rates of A)infertility.
B)concurrent sexual partners.
C)serial sexual partners.
D)high cereal diets.
E)gluten free diets.
Q3) In the least developed nations, average life expectancy
A)is about 25 years.
B)can be lower than 60 years.
C)is between 60 and 70 years.
D)cannot be measured.
E)is much higher among women than among men.
Q4) Why has HIV/AIDS spread more rapidly in Africa than in the United States? Why has heterosexual transmission played a greater role in Africa?
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Chapter 5: The Social Meanings of Illness
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27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following can be important supporters of medicalization?
A)doctors
B)lay groups
C)pharmaceutical companies
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Q2) Most individuals assume that illness is an objective, biological category. Your textbook, on the other hand, argues that illness is a moral category and a social construction. Argue for or against this position. Be sure to address the issues likely to be raised by those holding the opposite view.
Q3) Treating behavior problems among children as an illness is an example of A)medicalization.
B)demedicalization.
C)depoliticization.
D)medical collaboration.
E)reductionistic treatment.
Q4) What contribution does Parsons' concept of a sick role make to our understanding of sickness in society? What are the weaknesses of that concept?
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Chapter 6: The Experience of Disability, Chronic Pain, and Chronic Illness
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28 Verified Questions
28 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Chronic pain is more common among which of the following?
A)men
B)women
C)middle-class persons
D)suburbanites
E)white Americans
Q2) Defining disability in terms of impairments
A)suggests that disability is inherent in the individual.
B)reflects a social model of disability.
C)highlights the role of social conditions in creating disability.
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
Q3) Alternative therapies
A)are currently used by less than 10 percent of Americans.
B)often reflects the belief that such treatments are inherently safe.
C)offer no placebo effect.
D)are illegal in the United States unless they have been proven effective by scientific research.
E)can be considered a form of new socialization.
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Q4) Should people with disabilities be considered a minority group? Why or why not?
Chapter 7: The Sociology of Mental Illness
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The "social drift" theory argues that
A)lower class life causes mental illness.
B)those who suffer from mental illness over time move downward in social class.
C)gender does not affect rates of mental illness.
D)social class does not affect rates of mental illness.
E)mentally ill persons often become more religious.
Q2) The sociological model of mental illness assumes that
A)psychiatrists label any behavior that breaks social norms as mental illness.
B)anyone who breaks social norms is equally likely to be labeled mentally ill.
C)behavior becomes labeled as mental illness when powerful persons consider it both unacceptable and incomprehensible.
D)treatment for mental illness may not help, but it cannot hurt.
E)sociologists can treat mental illness better than psychologists can.
Q3) Typically, persons who exhibit behavior that suggests mental illness
A)are quickly labeled as mentally ill by their families.
B)seek treatment within one year.
C)become homeless within one year.
D)are only reluctantly labeled mentally ill by their families.
E)should be classified as schizophrenic.
Q4) How are residential colleges similar to and different from total institutions?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Health Care in the United States
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How has Canada's single payer system kept health care costs down more effectively than the US system?
Q2) Why have health care costs risen in the United States?
Q3) Which of the following statements is true?
A)Medicare pays the cost of all medical bills for eligible Americans.
B)Almost all Americans over age 65 are eligible for Medicare.
C)Medicare provides free health care for poor children.
D)All persons with incomes below the poverty line are eligible for Medicaid.
E)Medicaid is now run by Blue Cross.
Q4) What kinds of health care reforms do you think are necessary? What stakeholders would be likely to oppose those reforms?
Q5) Hawaii's experiences with health care reform suggest the advantages of
A)a single payer health care system.
B)a for-profit health care system.
C)a convergent hypothesis health care system.
D)having multiple payers in a health care system.
E)allowing hospitals to make their own decisions about what technologies to purchase.
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Health Care Around the Globe
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In recent years,
A)access to health care has improved in China.
B)rural Chinese increasingly have turned for health care to their agricultural communes.
C)rural Chinese increasingly have turned for health care to village doctors.
D)rural Chinese increasingly have received their health care on a fee-for-service basis.
E)urban Chinese increasingly have received their health care from village doctors.
Q2) Which of the following nations has an entrepreneurial system of health care?
A)Democratic Republic of Congo
B)United States
C)Canada
D)all of the above
E)only a and b
Q3) Which nation's health care system would you prefer? Why?
Q4) How is health care rationed in Canada and Great Britain? Are these systems of rationing better, worse, or no different from how we ration care in the United States?
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Chapter 10: Health Care Settings and Technologies
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The history of CPR illustrates
A)the scientific nature of medical practice.
B)Americans' discomfort with the inevitability of sudden death.
C)why doctors adopt cost-effective treatments.
D)Americans' preference for a quick and painless death.
E)the social construction of mediocrity.
Q2) The cost of hospice care is
A)less expensive than hospital or nursing home care.
B)more expensive than nursing home care.
C)more expensive than hospital care.
D)about the same as hospital or nursing home care.
E)dropping due to the feminization of aging.
Q3) Which of the following statements is true?
A)The majority of hospice patients have AIDS.
B)On average, those who use hospices report less satisfaction than those who use conventional care-providers.
C)Hospice care shifts costs to families and away from hospitals.
D)Hospices work primarily with those who have heart disease.
E)Hospices primarily serve lower class non-whites.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: The Profession of Medicine
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28 Verified Questions
28 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ways in which medical residents talk about patients sometimes suggest that residents
A)view patients as enemies.
B)depersonalize their patients.
C)believe patients' feelings are not important to their treatment.
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
Q2) Another term for "regular doctors" is
A)allopaths.
B)homeopaths.
C)chiropractors.
D)botanic healers.
E)bonesetters.
Q3) Graduating medical students
A)can expect a 40-hour work week as residents.
B)can expect an average debt greater than $150,000.
C)must take a course in cultural competency.
D)come primarily from the working class.
E)can expect an average debt of about $25,000.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Other Mainstream and Alternative Health Care
Providers
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26 Verified Questions
26 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Currently, some chiropractors believe that A)immunizations are unnecessary.
B)they should serve as primary care providers.
C)spinal manipulation can cure most health problems.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Q2) In the early twentieth century, those nurses who fought to raise the status of nursing were hampered by
A)the ethic of caring and duty.
B)women's lack of political power.
C)ideas about women's proper role and character.
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
Q3) Florence Nightingale
A)believed that men and women should occupy "separate spheres."
B)believed that nursing needed a hierarchical structure.
C)saw caring as inherently women's role.
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
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Chapter 13: Issues in Bioethics
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27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The adoption of bioethical guidelines has led to which of the following?
A)Clinicians who focus more on documenting their compliance with guidelines than on following the spirit of those guidelines.
B)Ethics review boards that focus primarily on reducing law suits.
C)Significant reduction in the worst sorts of abuses of human subjects.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Q2) The modern bioethics movement developed in the A)1920s.
B)1930s.
C)1940s.
D)1960s.
E)1990s.
Q3) Which of the following statements is true?
A)The AMA first adopted a code of ethics in 1970.
B)The public responded with horror to news of Dr. Sims' experiments on slave women.
C)The Nazi philosophy was grounded in part in eugenics.
D)The eugenics movement never gained a foothold in the United States.
E)From the start, most German doctors opposed the Nazis.
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