Sociology chapt 11, 12, 13

Define medical sociology and outline the issues in medical sociology.

- Medical sociology is concerned with the "social causes and consequences of health and illness" - Racial/ethnic differences in health care -The basic causes of health inequalities by social class, gender, and race/ethnicity -The linkage between stress and health -The relationships between patients and health care providers -The increasing use of advanced medical technology -The astronomical and spiraling cost of medical care -The changing nature of the medical profession

Describe the effects of globalization on the world economy.

- One of the most remarkable changes has been in macrofinance, or globalization as it relates to money and finance.

What is economy? What is mass production?

-ECONOMY is the social system involved in the production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. - MASS PRODUCTION has a number of defining characteristics, including large numbers of standardized products, highly specialized workers, interchangeable machine parts, precision tools, a high-volume mechanized production process, and the synchronization of the flow of materials used in production, with the entire process made as continuous as possible.

Discuss the reasons for the decline of American Labor unions

- A decline began in the 1960s, at about the same time as the onset of deindustrialization and the rise of the service sector. As of 2014, only 11.1 percent of the U.S. labor force belonged to labor unions

Explain how globalization affects war and terrorism, geopolitics, and the nation-state. What is the key difference between the nation and the nation-state? Support your answer with examples from the textbook.

- A nation is a group of people who share, often over a long period of time, similar cultural, religious, ethnic, and linguistic characteristics - The nation-state combines the nation with a geographic and political structure. In other words, in addition to encompassing people with a shared identity and culture, a nation-state exists in a bounded physical location and encompasses a government to administer the locale. - Nation-states exist within a global context, but they are affected, even threatened, by globalization in various ways (Hershkovitz 2012). First, global flows of many kinds—undocumented immigrants, drugs, terrorists, and so on—easily pierce the borders of nation-states and serve to erode their national sovereignties. -Second, even if it does not threaten national sovereignty, globalization serves to alter the nation-state's structure and functions. For example, corporations have become increasingly important on the global stage and have come to operate more autonomously from states. - Third, the government itself has to change to adjust to global changes. For example, the United States created the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 to deal with, among other things, the global threat of terrorism. - Fourth, there is the possibility that global flows can strengthen the nation-state. For example, external threats can lead citizens to put their differences aside, at least for the time being, and rally around the government and the nation-state more broadly.

Discuss the negative influence of globalization on health, illness and disease, and health care.

- As noted in Chapter 7, people in poor nations tend to have poorer health as a result of limited access to health care services, poor education, inadequate sanitation, and inadequate nutrition and housing. - Another negative aspect of globalization is the flow of borderless diseases (Ali 2012). While such diseases have become much more common in recent years, they are not a new phenomenon.

Define socialism, communism and capitalism. What are the key characteristics of communistic systems? How do socialists states differ from communist states? How does competitive capitalism differ from monopoly capitalism?

- COMMUNISM is an economic system oriented to the collective, rather than the private, ownership of the means of production. - means of production are the tools, machines, and factories that in CAPITALISM are owned by the capitalists and are needed by the workers—the proletariat in Marx's terms—in order to produce. - SOCIALISM involves the effort by society to plan and organize production consciously and rationally so that all members of society benefit from it. The collective control of the means of production in communism is a first step, but in itself it is not enough to run a society. Once in control of the means of production, the collectivity must set about the task of creating a rational centralized economy (and society) that operates for the good of all and creates social and economic equality. - COMPETITIVE CAPITALISM, characterized by a large number of relatively small firms. No single firm or small subset of firms could completely dominate and control a given area of the economy. - However, in the late nineteenth century and into much of the twentieth century, this situation changed. Huge corporations emerged and, alone or in combination with a few other similarly sized corporations, came to dominate, or monopolize, certain markets. This was MONOPOLY CAPITALISM

describe the relationship between globalization and the world's major religions. What are the worlds dominant religions by percentage of believers?

- Christians make up over 33 percent of the world's population (Britannica 2012; Kurtz 2012: 46). More than 22 percent are Muslims, 14 percent are Hindus, and smaller proportions are followers of Buddhism (7 percent), Sikhism (0.36 percent), Judaism (0.21 percent), and the Baha'i faith (0.11 percent). Atheists (those without any religious belief) account for 2 percent of the world population. - First, transnational migration brings institutional religion to new locales. Migrants transplant religions into new places, making those places more multireligious. They also generate in those locales new and different versions of the local religions, even as the migrants' versions are influenced and altered by local religions. This, in turn, can alter religion in the migrants' homeland. Thus, transnational migration globalizes religion spatially and contributes to the further pluralization of religion around the world.

Define civil religion. What are its key elements?

- Civil religion, or the beliefs, practices, and symbols that a nation holds sacred, is particularly important to Americans - Examples of civil religion include presidential addresses (Gorski 2011), the Constitution, revered geographic locations, and community rituals, like parades and fireworks on the Fourth of July. Civil religion becomes especially prominent and important in difficult times, such as after 9/11. -

Describe the U.S. economy's transition from industrialized to deindustrialize. How did it happen? What are the key factors in deindustrialization?

- DEINDUSTRIALIZATION involves the decline of manufacturing as well as a corresponding increase in various types of services - Several factors were responsible for deindustrialization in the United States. First was the aging technology in many American industries. This made them vulnerable to foreign competitors, which were often building new, state-of-the-art factories. Another technological factor was the rise of automation, which greatly reduced the need for many blue-collar workers (Noble 2011) and, more recently, many other types of workers (Ford 2015). Furthermore, the increased efficiency of automated technologies made it possible for corporations to close unnecessary factories, thus cutting many more jobs. - Second was globalization, which brought with it industrial competition from low-wage workers in less developed countries. - A third factor in deindustrialization was the rise of consumer society and the increasing demand for goods of all types. -A fourth factor responsible for deindustrialization was the rise of the service sector in the United States

Contrast democracy and dictatorship. How does representative democracy differ from direct democracy? Where does the power come from in democracies?

- DEMOCRACIES are political systems in which people within a given state vote to choose their leaders and in some cases vote on legislation as well. In modern democracies, people vote to choose their legislators rather than actually managing their own political affairs and directly making decisions about the things that affect their lives. - REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACIES. THE people, as a whole body, do not actually rule themselves but rather have some say in who will best represent them in the state. In DIRECT DEMOCRACIES, by contrast, the people have a say in decisions that directly affect them. - DICTATORSHIPS are states that are usually totalitarian and ruled either by a single individual or by a small group of people. Dictatorships are governments without the consent of the people being governed.

Define politics, citizenship and the rights of citizens.

- Democracies tend to extend rights to citizens, the people represented by the state and most often born within its territories. Citizenship means that the people of a given state can vote for their representatives and that they have rights and responsibilities as citizens - When groups operate through established governmental channels to do so, this competition is referred to as politics.

Explain how the educational process is related to socialization, employment, and income. Discuss unemployment rates and income by education levels

- Education is closely related to SOCIALIZATION since both involve the learning process. As a general rule, socialization tends to be a more informal process, while education takes place more formally in schools of various types -Individuals age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma were almost three times more likely to be unemployed than those with a bachelor's degree; they were five times more likely to be unemployed than those with a doctorate. A person's likelihood of being UNEMPLOYED decreases as he or she ascends the EDUCATIONAL LADDER. - the UNEMPLOYMENT RATE in 2013 for individuals with doctoral degrees was 2.2 percent, and for those with advanced professional degrees it was 2.3 percent. At the same time, the rate for individuals with less than a high school diploma was 11 percent, and it was 7.5 percent for people with no more than a high school diploma.

Describe the key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010. Why is this legislation so controversial ?

- Health insurance coverage was expected to be extended to an additional 32 million people by 2014, although the Congressional Budget Office later reduced the likely number of additions to 26 million people. - It is estimated that by 2019, approximately 95 percent of Americans will have health insurance, although that estimate may be reduced as well. - Medicaid coverage has been expanded for the poor, allowing them an income of up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line (se Chapter 7). - Americans are required to have health insurance. If they do not, they must pay a tax penalty of up to 2.5 percent of their income. - Employers with more than 50 employees are required to provide health insurance for them or be fined. - Health insurance companies are not allowed to reject applicants because they have preexisting conditions, to charge excessive rates, or to cancel policies after policyholders become sick

What is the relationship between health and race? What are the causes of this relationship?

- In the United States, for example, whites are more likely to be in the middle and upper classes, while blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately in the lower classes. Overall, whites tend to have better health than blacks (and Hispanics). As a result, blacks have a life expectancy 4.8 years shorter than that of whites - Even with such education, they may still be unable to obtain those jobs. As a result, they remain in the working class and are less likely to have the best health insurance, or they may have none at all. They are also less likely to have the money to visit health care professionals, at least on a regular basis. - Blacks are also more likely to be poorly treated, or even mistreated, by the health care system

Define malnutrition and identify different types of malnutrition. What are the health effects of malnutrition?

- MALNUTRITION Roughly 850 million people there are affected by these problems, which are the result of inadequate, or totally unavailable, food supplies and poor and unbalanced diets. - UNDERNUTRITION is a form of malnutrition involving an inadequate intake of nutrients, including calories, vitamins, and minerals. The OTHER FORM OF MALNUTRITION involves obesity, which is caused by an excessive intake of nutrients, especially calories. - Dealing with hunger and malnutrition is especially important for children, because those who are underweight are likely, when they reach adulthood, to be less physically and intellectually productive and to experience more chronic illnesses and disabilities. - Undernutrition creates difficulties that continue throughout the life cycle and is responsible for stunted growth, lower levels of schooling, lower productivity, and chronic diseases; undernourished women also give birth to low-weight infants. Undernutrition has also been linked to rapid weight gain and obesity among formerly underweight children.

Discuss the key weaknesses of the US health care system (e.g., costs, population health, and life expectancy).

- One major problem is high costs. In 2013 health care spending in the United States reached $2.9 trillion, almost $9,255 per person - Life expectancy in the United States is among the lowest of the high-income nations in the world

Define religion and its major components (i.e. beliefs, rituals, and experiences). What do rituals mark? Discuss the difference between the sacred and the profane religious experiences. What is the role of religion in a society? What are the most difficult things that religions explain?

- Religion is a social phenomenon that consists of beliefs about the sacred; the experiences, practices, and rituals that reinforce those beliefs; and the communities that share similar beliefs and practices - BELIEFS, or ideas that explain the world and identify what should be sacred or held in awe—that is, the religion's ultimate concerns.Beliefs are often presented in sacred stories and scriptures. They address questions about the origin and meaning of life, theories about why the world was created, and explanations of suffering and death.Thus, beliefs are at the same time both models of and models for reality. They provide believers with information and a framework for interpreting the world around them. - A RITUAL consists of regularly repeated, prescribed, and traditional behaviors symbolizing a value or belief. Rituals are enacted during ceremonies and festivals, such as funerals, weddings, and baptisms. Rituals are a central part of the rites of passage that accompany major transitions in life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death. In times of crisis, rituals can help people deal with tragedy and offer an opportunity to strengthen social bonds. Such rituals build a sense of solidarity that provides support for the suffering and reinforces the authority of the social order and the institutions that sponsor the rituals, especially when they are being threatened. - sacred is that which is extraordinary, set aside, and of ultimate concern and that leads to awe and reverence. - PROFANE, in contrast, is the ordinary and mundane. People can come to believe that virtually anything is sacred—a deity, a place (like Jerusalem or Mecca), a particular time or season (Ramadan, Diwali), an idea (freedom), or even a thing (an animal, a mountain, a tree, a canyon, a flag, or a rock).

Explain and provide examples of secularization. What are the factors that foster secularization (e.g. scientific thinking, religious tolerance, etc.)?

- Secularization is defined as the declining significance of religion - The rise of scientific thinking as an alternative way of interpreting the world. - The development of industrial society, particularly when it encourages materialism and downplays otherworldly concerns. -The rise of governments that do not mandate or promote an established religion. -The encouragement of religious tolerance, which leads to a "watering down" of religion in general and religious differences in particular. - The existence of competing secular moral ideologies, such as humanism -Two examples of secularization are civil religion and how religion is becoming a form of consumption. While both challenge the authority of conventional religions, they do not necessarily reject the components of religion: beliefs, rituals, and experiences.

Compare the educational system in the US with other countries (e.g., Finland)

- Students in Asian countries consistently garnered the highest scores in math, reading, and science. Especially worrisome for the United States is the fact that American students ranked toward the bottom of the list of countries—36th in math, 24th in reading, and 28th in science - What does the Finnish educational system look like? First, teachers are well trained. Gaining acceptance into teacher training programs in universities is competitive. Teachers are unionized and are paid well, and the teaching profession remains highly respected. - Second, Finland has not embraced any of the policies pursued in recent decades in the United States, including charter schools, vouchers, merit pay for teachers, and evaluation of teachers and schools in terms of how well they perform on standardized tests - Third, Finnish schools perform at remarkably similar levels. In other words, there is less variation in achievement across the educational system than there is in other countries - In GERMANY, all elementary school students attend Grundschule, which does not practice ability grouping; all children are exposed to the same curriculum. At the end of fourth grade, teachers make a recommendation to each child's family regarding the type of secondary school the child should attend based on his or her test scores and the teachers' subjective assessments of the student's ability. There are three types of schools that represent academic and vocational tracks: lower-level Gymnasium (the college track), Realschule (the middle track), and Hauptschule (the lowest track). - Only 30 percent of students are placed in the Gymnasium level. Transferring to a different track is possible, but it is difficult and rare. - only students who attend upper-level Gymnasium can proceed to the university system and attain the equivalent of a baccalaureate degree. - For the first nine years of school, Japanese students are exposed to a remarkably uniform curriculum. At the end of ninth grade, Japanese students take a high-stakes test that determines which type of high school they will attend. About 75 percent of students attend futsuuka, which has a college preparatory curriculum. The remaining 25 percent of students attend a variety of technical and vocational schools. - The German and Japanese systems are much more centralized than education in the United States. The United States has 50 different educational systems (one run by each state) with different levels of funding and varying curricula. The United States also has more variability in school quality by geographic region. In the United States, more so than in Japan and Germany, the quality and character of a student's education is likely to be affected - Germany has the highest levels of achievement inequality because of its highly stratified system. Japan has higher average achievement than Germany but much less inequality in outcomes because it does not practice curricular differentiation until very late. The United States actually has the lowest average achievement and the least variability of these three nations.

Describe inequality in education, its sources and effects. What does it mean that "educational inequalities are present before students ever start formal schooling"? Explain how students' math and reading skills are related to their parents' educational background. What are the most important school characteristics that influence student academic performance? Discuss the process of cumulative advantage in the context of education. who are the students who are awarded the best opportunities, which in turn, increase inequality over time?

- Students with the highest reading and math scores at the end of high school are those whose parents have the most education. In terms of race/ethnicity, Asian and white students, both male and female, are more likely than black or Hispanic students to complete high school and attain either a bachelor's or master's degree, or higher. - School resources, such as per-pupil spending or the books in a library, did not predict student achievement; rather, achievement was most strongly related to teacher quality and the family background and racial composition of the students attending the school. Students learned more in schools with better teachers and white, middle-class peers. Finally, Coleman found that the most important predictor of student learning was a student's family background. - The researchers visited each family once every month until the children were three years old. For each hour-long visit, Hart and Risley recorded every spoken word and took notes on what happened. By the time the children were three years of age, there were massive differences in the numbers of words that had been addressed to them among these different families: 35 million words in professional families, 20 million in working-class families, and fewer than 10 million in welfare families. - Students in higher-ability groups learned more new words and improved their reading skills more rapidly than did students in low-ability groups. - Consequently, the gap between high- and low-achieving students grew larger during the year. This process is known as CUMULATIVE ADVANTAGE—the most advantaged individuals are awarded the best opportunities, and this increases inequality over time

What is the relationship between health and socioeconomic status? What are the causes of this relationship?

- That is, the lower one's social class, the poorer one's health is likely to be - causes of social class differences in health. First, early differences among children may have long-lasting health consequences. Living in poverty can contribute to ill health in childhood and therefore later in life - Second, conditions in the adult years also affect health. Contributors to poor physical and mental health among adults include poor living conditions, especially those associated with living in unhealthy urban neighborhoods (Cockerham 2012); working lives that are unrewarding economically and psychologically; and high levels of stress. - Third, a variety of health-related behaviors contribute to inequalities in health. These include the greater likelihood that those in the lower classes will use illegal drugs, smoke (see below), drink to excess, and be obese as a result of poor eating habits and lack of exercise. - Finally, the presence or absence of health care in general, and high-quality health care in particular, can play a huge role in health inequalities.

Discuss consumerism in health care. How is the internet changing the consumption of health care? Support your answer with examples from the textbook.

- The Internet has become implicated in the consumption of health care (e-health) in various ways. For example, it is a vast resource for finding providers, by specialty, on the local, national, and even global levels. It is also a source of lots of information about them. - The Internet has become a global source of medical information. One specific example is the Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention (www.malecircumcision.org), a website devoted to providing information about, and debunking the myths related to, circumcision and HIV/AIDS. - The Internet also opens a global range of views, possibilities, and alternatives to the consumers of medical goods and services. Consumers are better able to make themselves aware of alternatives available elsewhere in the world, obtain information and advice about them, and find ways of obtaining them.

Has the united states ever supported dictatorships? Support your answer with examples.

- The United States has often sponsored dictatorships and fought against democracy. This has occurred particularly where democratically elected leaders might turn toward political orientations (such as socialism or Islamism) that would make their governments problematic for American political and business interests (Chomsky 1985).

Provide examples of borderless diseases that we face today. Can governments prevent them from spreading? How?

- Today the World Health Organization estimates that more than a third of the world's population is infected with the cause of the disease—the TB bacillus (Linn and Wilson 2012). - Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) of various types have long diffused globally. A specific example of the latter is syphilis, which has spread globally and continues to circulate, especially throughout a number of less developed countries. - NEW Examples include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease"), which is often found in cattle and can cause a brain disease in humans (Ong 2007); avian flu; Ebola; and HIV/AIDS. -global. That is, there is a need for global responses to the increasing likelihood of the spread of various diseases. However, some nations have proven unable or unwilling to respond adequately to this global need. For example, there has been widespread criticism of the slowness of the global response to Ebola and the relatively small amounts of money committed to fight the disease. - One example is the growth of global health-related organizations, such as the Red Cross and Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) (Inoue and Drori 2006). Of course, as with much else about globalization, the effects have been uneven and affected by a variety of local circumstances.

Define employment, unemployment, underemployment, and consumption. What are the key characteristics of underemployment?

- UNEMPLOYMENT is defined as the state of being economically active and in the labor force (e.g., not retired), able and willing to work, and seeking employment but unable to find a job. - UNDEREMPLOYMENT. This involves (a) being in jobs that are not up to one's training and ability, such as a college professor driving a taxi at night; (b) being an involuntary part-time worker, that is, working part-time because one cannot find full-time work; or (c) working in jobs that are not fully occupying, such as in a seasonal industry like agriculture, where work slows down dramatically or disappears in the off-season.

Describe the alternative to traditional public schools, including school vouchers, homeschooling, and charter schools. Are these alternatives successful in improving public education?

- VOUCHERS are government-issued certificates that allow students to use public tax dollars to pay tuition at private schools.In a study in Florida, Rudolfo Abella (2006) found that over a two-year period, voucher students did about as well as students in public schools. - Based on standardized tests, HOMESCHOOLED children may on average perform slightly better than their public school counterparts, but this is not the case in all regions of the country. - CHARTER schools are a hybrid: They are alternatives to traditional public schools, but nevertheless they remain part of the public school system. They receive funding from public tax dollars, although they can also receive private funding. In other words, they are publicly funded but privately operated. The ideal of charter schools was that they would be more responsive to the concerns of parents and more accountable in terms of ensuring solid student outcomes. For one thing, the schools have experienced managerial problems. Somewhere between 10 percent and 15 percent of charter schools have failed and closed.

Who rules in the United States, according to the structural/functional perspective and the conflict perspective? Discuss different types of pluralism.

- Within STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM, the typical position put forward regarding who rules America is pluralism (see Chapter 8). That is, the United States is characterized by a number of powerful competing interest groups, and no one of them is in control all of the time. - GROUP PLURALISM focuses on society's many different interest groups and organizations and how they compete for access to political power to attempt to further their interests - ELITE PLURALISM focuses specifically on how political elites form similar interest groups and organizations that vie for power. While voters may decide which elites represent them, the ultimate decision-making power rests in the hands of those elites. - POWER ELITE theory. This theory holds that power is not dispersed throughout a stable society. Rather, power is concentrated among a small number of people who control the major institutions of the state, the economy, and the military. The powerful people who make up these institutions may have minor disagreements about policy, but for the most part they are unified in their interests and in the business of owning and operating much of American society.

Define profession and the process of deprofessionalization. Why are physicians subjected to deprofessionalization in recent years?

- a profession is distinguished from other occupations mainly by its high level of power and considerable autonomy. Other characteristics often associated with the professions are advanced education, mastery of knowledge and skills, the need to be licensed, and high prestige - deprofessionalization. That is, their power and autonomy, as well as their high status and associated wealth, have declined, at least relative to the exalted position they once held - A variety of factors are involved in the declining power of the medical profession, especially the increasing power of patients, third-party payers such as the government through Medicare and Medicaid, and the pharmaceutical industry. - How do we account for the deprofessionalization of physicians? First, they simply had acquired too much power a half century ago to be able to sustain it at that level for very long. Second, the public, which had granted (or at least ceded to) the medical profession that power and autonomy, came to question the medical profession. - One basis of this increasing doubt was a growing awareness of the extraordinary wealth and power acquired by many physicians. Another was the revelation of medical malpractice, which demonstrated that physicians do not always adhere to their own code of ethics

What is a "college-going habitus?" How do children acquire it?

- habitus is an internalized set of preferences and dispositions that are learned through experience and social interactions in specific social contexts. - For example, children raised in families with highly educated parents may constantly be exposed to justifications of the importance of education in adult life. They may also hear dismissive and derogatory comments that devalue people with less education. It may become clear that education is a critical part of being accepted as a member of the group.

Define religion as a form of consumption.

- religious institutions are like business firms seeking to serve a market, and in so doing, they enter into competitive relationships with other "firms" in order to maintain or expand market share and attract more "consumers" - Religious consumers have different tastes, which can be influenced by class, race, gender, educational attainment, age, region, and similar factors. When consumers "purchase" religious institutions, they do so for different reasons. Some might seek a family-friendly place with quality child care on the premises, some might emphasize worship that is very traditional, others may value contemporary worship formats, and still others might place a premium on the religious leaders' stances on various social and moral issues. - Among the more obvious examples are efforts to sell all sorts of goods and services linked to religion (Moore 1997). All major holidays are associated with one form of consumption or another, but this is most clearly true of Christmas (Belk 1987, 2013). There are even religious theme parks devoted to consumption (O'Guinn and Belk 1989). For example, in Orlando, Florida, near Disney World, the Trinity Broadcasting Network runs the Holy Land Experience.

Identify different types of religious organizations. Support your answer with examples from the textbook. What characteristics do churches and denominations have in common? How do sects differ from cults?

- sect is a small group of people who have joined that group consciously and voluntarily to have a personal religious experience. They see themselves as the "true believers" who have privileged access to religious truths. The members' religious experiences and general behavior tend to be spontaneous and unregimented. A sect's leadership is usually composed of laypersons rather than those with specialized training. - Amish, Hutterites, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Within Judaism, Hasidic Jews are an example of a sect. - church is a large group of religiously oriented people into which members are usually born rather than joining consciously and voluntarily. The church's leadership is composed of professionals who have highly specialized training. The church as a whole tends to have a highly bureaucratic structure and a complex division of labor. - While a sect is a religious group that breaks off from a more established religion as a result of a schism, a CULT is a new, small, voluntary, and exclusive religion that was never associated with any religious organization. - cults are Baha'i, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishnas), Rastafari, and the Unification Church -Like a church, a DENOMINATION is an organized form of religious expression that is usually supportive of the social order and of other religious forms. Religious services of denominations, like those of churches, are formal and reserved, with an emphasis on teaching rather than on an emotional religious experience. Denominations are hierarchical and bureaucratic. Protestant groups, including American Baptist, Assemblies of God, Church of Christ, Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist

What is the relationship between health and gender? What are the causes of this relationship?

- while women live longer, there is a widespread view that they have poorer health than men during their lifetimes - A good example of an area in which women are disadvantaged in comparison to men is coronary heart disease. Men are more likely than women to have this disease, but the gap is narrowing as more women are smoking—a major risk factor in heart disease. - Doctors are less likely to give women with coronary symptoms close attention and the needed diagnostic tests - Women are more likely not to get treatment until the disease is well advanced. They are also more likely to have emergency surgery for it. - Coronary heart disease is related to stress, and women appear to experience more stress.

School vouchers

School vouchers are government-issued certificates that allow students to use public tax dollars to pay tuition at private schools.

What are the basic institutional arrangements that characterize dictatorships?

These dictatorships shared some very basic institutional arrangements and principles: -They were totalitarian in that they attempted to control every facet of social life; - saw conflict and war as natural states and methods for human betterment - and were viciously opposed to liberalism, anarchism, and any form of socialism or communism.

habitus

habitus is an internalized set of preferences and dispositions that are learned through experience and social interactions in specific social contexts

meritocracy

meritocracy is a system based on a dominant ideology involving the widely shared belief that all people have an equal chance of succeeding economically based on their hard work and skills