Chapter 2

Question 1

Theory

Answer 1

An explanation of how things work and why things happen

Question 2

Structural Functionalism

Answer 2

• Durkheim, Parsons, Merton
• Studies the way social structures function to maintain social order & stability
• Views society as a system of inter-related parts, each of which have a social function that ensures social order

Question 3

The Sick Role

Answer 3

• Talcott Parsons
• The management of illness as a social experience
• Illness prohibits people from fulfilling their social roles, therefore must be managed to retain social order
• Expectations placed on ill people
• People who assume the sick role are not held accountable for their deviance as long as they seek to get better

Question 4

Marxism

Answer 4

• Karl Marx & Friedrick Engels
• Has informed many variations within conflic/critical theories
• Views society as based on conflict between social classes (the capitalist class & working class)
• Aims for social change through human action

Question 5

Marxism & Health

Answer 5

• Explores how inequality in working & living conditions impact health & illness
• Also examines how professional power of doctors & health industries place profit above optimal health care

Question 6

Political Economy Approach

Answer 6

• Popular contemporary approach rooted in Marxism with a focus on critiquing political & economic conditions
• Emphasizes that material conditions directly & indirectly determine the health of individuals and communities

Question 7

Weberianism

Answer 7

• Based on Max Weber’s ideas related to the multidimensional nature of social ranking
• Focused on social status & specific status groups that hold cultural & legally conferred privileges, social respect & prestige because of their position
• Examination of medical profession’s power & maintenance of professional boundaries & authority over health & illness
• Also focused on the increasing rationalization of society, which was manifested in the bureaucratic organization of society
• The standardization of social life through rules & regulations; emphasis on efficiency

Question 8

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 8

• Focuses on agency & how people construct, interpret & give meaning to their behaviour through interactions with others
• Views health & illness as subjective experiences & social constructions that change over time & across cultures
• SI bas exposed medical practices & opinions as based on social or moral judgements rather than biological factors
• Explored patients’ lived experiences of illness & interactions with health care providers

Question 9

Post-Structuralism * Post-modernism

Answer 9

• A diverse range of theories that emerged beginning in the 1980s
• This genre of theorizing shares a rejection of universal truths & grand theories
• In favour of social constructionism & recognition of multiple perspectives or truths

Question 10

Postmodernism

Answer 10

• Foucault

* Uncovered how knowledge & power are used to regulate & control various social groups

Question 11

Panopticon

Answer 11

Used to form theory of disciplinary gaze

Question 12

Postmodernism & Health

Answer 12

*Medical knowledge & discourse have been used to control the body through systems of surveillance in the supposed broader interests of society

Question 13

Feminism

Answer 13

• Emerged in sociology in the 1960s & 70s to address gender issues & sexism of past sociological theories
• Views the social world as gendered, with men & women having different access to power & opportunities

Question 14

Feminism & Health

Answer 14

• Attention to how patriarchy & other systems of oppression have shaped the ideas & practices evident in medicine & health care
• Also, how gender influences every aspect of conceptualization & experience of illness

Question 15

Human Rights Approach

Answer 15

• Not a unified theoretical perspective, but a framework for developing health programs & policies that aims for social justice
• 1948 Declaration of Human Rights- right to high standard of physical & mental health
• Seeks to address health inequities at the local & global levels

Question 16

Anti-Racism Approach

Answer 16

• Focuses on racialization& racism as critical for understanding the health experiences of ‘racial’ groups
• Race is a socio-political construction used by dominant groups to exercise power & control over those defined as other or subordinate

Question 17

Functional prerequisites

Answer 17

A debate concept based on the assumption that all societies require certain functions to be performed for them to survive and maintain social order. Also known as functional imperatives

Question 18

Deviance

Answer 18

Behaviour or activities that violate social expectations about what is normal

Question 19

medical-industrial complex

Answer 19

The growth of profit-oriented medical companies and industries, whereby one company may own a chain of health services such as hospitals

Question 20

Commodification of health care

Answer 20

Treating health care as a commodity to be bought and sold in the pursuit if maximixation of profit

Question 21

Verstehen

Answer 21

Refers to a process of interpretative and empathetic understanding

Question 22

Social closure

Answer 22

describes the way that power is exercised to exclude outsiders from the privileges of social membership

Question 23

rationalization

Answer 23

the standardization of social life through rules and regulations

Question 24

Ideal type

Answer 24

Refers to the abstract or pure features of any social phenomenon

Question 25

McDonaldization

Answer 25

Like rationalization. Like fast-food chains these practices are applies to other sectors

Question 26

medicalization

Answer 26

the process by which non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical issues

Question 27

labelling theory

Answer 27

Focuses on the effect that social institutions and professions have in labelling behaviours and activities as deviant

Question 28

Social Control

Answer 28

Mechanisms that aim to induce conformity or at least to manage or minimize deviant behaviour

Question 29

Stigma

Answer 29

A physical or social trait such as a disability that results in a negative social reaction

Question 30

Total institutions

Answer 30

Refers to institutions in which life is highly regulated and subjected to authoritarian control to induce conformity

Question 31

meta narratives

Answer 31

The "big picture" analysis that frames and organizes observations and research on a particular topic

Question 32

relations of ruling

Answer 32

Refers to a complex of organized practices, including government, law, bureaucracy, professional organizations, educational institutions and discourses in texts. that coordinate and organize the lives of individuals.

Question 33

Institutional ethnography

Answer 33

A feminist research strategy. Begins with the standpoint of people in the actualities of their everyday world to show how people's social relations are organized by forces outside of them

Question 34

Emotional labour

Answer 34

Refers to the use of feelings by employees as part of their paid work.

Question 35

sexual division of labour

Answer 35

Refers to the nature of work performed as a result of gender roles.