Chapter 14 Sociology

The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values.

Education

Formal instruction under the direction of specially trained programs.

Schooling

Assigning students to different types of educational programs

Tracking

A lack of the reading and writing skills needed for everyday living.

Functional illiteracy

Integrating students with disabilities or special needs into the overall educational program

Mainstreaming

The social institution that focuses on fighting disease and improving health.

Medicine

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.

Health

The study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society’s population.

Social Epidemiology

A physical and mental disorder that involves intense dieting or other unhealthy method of weight control driven by the desire to be very thin.

Eating disorder

Assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease, also known as mercy killing.

Euthanasia

An approach to health care that emphasizes prevention of illness and takes into account a person’s entire physical and social environment.

Holistic medicine

A medical care system in which the government owns and operates most medical facilities and employees most physicians.

Socialized medicine

A medical care system in which patients pay directly for the services of physicians and hospitals

Direct-fee system

An organization that provides comprehensive medical care to subscribers for a fixed fee.

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

Patterns of behavior defined as appropriate for people who are ill.

Sick Role

Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society’s population.

True

Which of the following responses correctly states the effect of additional schooling on average income?

Earning a high school diploma and earning a college degree both raise income levels.

In the United States, the most widespread health problem related to eating is which of the following?

Obesity

In which region of the United States is the problem of obesity most widespread?

The South

Which of the following concepts refers to the practice of including people with disabilities in regular educational classes and programs?

Mainstreaming

Of all high-income nations, which country relies the most on a direct-fee market system to pay for medical treatment?

The United States

Scientific medicine typically develops in

industrial societies

Research suggests that the level of functional illiteracy in the United States is about what share of adults?

about 14 percent

From a sociological point of view, societies define "health" so that being healthy is sometimes a matter of what is normal, that is, having the same diseases as one’s neighbors.

True

The world region with the highest rate of HIV infection is the Middle East.

False

In the United States, how does life expectancy of white people compare to that of black people?

It is about four years longer

To improve U.S. schooling, A Nation at Risk recommended.

All of these are correct

Social inequality affects a society’s patterns of health.

True

The concept of "socialized medicine" refers to which of the following?

A medical system mostly owned and operated by the government

Society shapes human health because

all of these responses are correct

The greatest cause of death among young people in the United States today is which of the following?

Accidents

Which of the following is an example of a chronic illness?

Cancer

The fact that, historically, schooling has been mostly for elites is evident in the fact that the word "school" has the same root as the Greek word for

leisure

Today’s colleges provide opportunities for not only young people but also adults seeking new careers as well as personal enrichment.

True

Jonathan Kozol characterizes the differences in funding of schools between rich and poor communities and the use of tracking as " savage inequalities" of U.S. education.

True

Advancing medical technology has attacked infectious disease in poor countries with what results?

Populations have increased rapidly.

In the United States, the focus of education has always been

what is practical and job-related.

Providing schooling at public expense is one way our society increases equality of opportunity.

True

Which of the following statements about gender and health is correct?

Women generally have better health than the men.

Talcott Parsons is the sociologist who developed the concept of the "sick role."

True

Today’s advanced medical technology has made the definition of death much clearer.

False

For the United States as a whole, about what percentage of people between ages sixteen and twenty-four drop out before completing high school?

7 percent

Which of the following categories of the U.S. population has the highest dropout rate?

Hispanics

Which of the following diseases is the biggest killer in today’s high-income nations?

Heart disease

In the United States, people with higher incomes have a more positive assessment of their personal health than people with low incomes.

True

From a social-conflict perspective, schooling in the United States transforms social privilege into personal merit.

True

African Americans have a lower rate of completing high school than Hispanic Americans.

False

Which sexually transmitted disease infects 25 million U.S. adults (about one in six)?

Genital Herpes

About 20 percent of U.S. adults are overweight.

False

Supporters of the school-choice movement argue that competition is the best way to encourage the public school system to improve education.

True

Which of the following categories of the U.S. population has the highest life-expectancy?

White Women

In the United States, an important medical issue is

a shortage of nurses

As examples of changing conceptions of health and illness, fifty years ago, few people in the United States understood the dangers of cigarette smoking or excessive sun exposure.

True

Ideas about health can serve as a type of social control, as illustrated by the notion that

all of these are correct

Which of the following statements about African Americans and Hispanic Americans over the age of twenty-five is correct?

Women are more likely than men to have completed four or more years of college.

One major reason that schooling is limited in India is that

many poor children must work for income

An exception to the general decline of infectious diseases in the United States is the increase in _______ after 1960.

sexually transmitted diseases

Which of the following is a latent function of schooling?

Providing child-care

One criticism of the social-conflict analysis is that is minimizes the improvements in health care brought about by scientific medicine.

True

The Japanese place greater important on achievement test scores in college admissions than is the case in the United States.

True

Genital herpes is a curable sexually transmitted disease.

False

Which of the following world regions is experiencing the most severe epidemic of AIDS?

Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Health Organization claims more than half of all humanity suffers from illness caused by poverty.

False

Applying the sociological perspective, we see that the high rate of obesity in the United States reflects

cultural forces that encourage people to eat large amounts of unhealthy fast food.

Which of the following statements about the "right to die" is true?

All of these are correct

From a social-conflict point of view, capitalism fails to support human health because

it makes quality of care dependent on income.

Getting into college in Japan, compared to the United States, is more a matter of

performance on achievement tests.

As a result of cigarette smoking, some 440,000 people in the United States die prematurely every year.

True

From a sociological point of view, societies define "health" so that being healthy is sometimes a matter of what is normal, that is , having the same disease as one’s neighbors.

True

On average, completing a college degree adds about $50,000 to a person’s lifetime earnings.

False

In the United States, the focus of education has always been

what is practical and job-related

More than half of all physicians in the United States are women.

false

If school officials consider some children to be gifted, teachers may treat them accordingly and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

True

Gonorrhea and syphilis can be cured with penicillin.

True

In which of the following nations is almost all medical care under the control of government?

China

Holistic medicine asserts that

patients should rely on themselves-not just physicians-to ensure their health.

Advancing medical technology has attacked infectious disease in poor countries with what result?

Populations have increased rapidly

Jonathan Kozol criticizes the U.S. educational system for

unequal funding that makes some schools far better than others.

Education is the social institution by which society provides people with important knowledge, including

all of these are correct

There has been significant grade inflation during the last several decades.

true

In 2013, 6.8 percent of people between sixteen and twenty-four years of age had dropped out of school.

True

During the early decades of the Industrial Revolution

All of these are correct

Heterosexual sex cannot transmit AIDS.

False

According to the World Health Organization, about how many of the world’s people suffer from serious illness caused by poverty?

1 billion

An example of the cultural capital advantage of well-to-do students in U.S. schooling is parents who

all of these are correct

Most private schools in the United States are "prep schools" that typically enroll children of well-to-do families.

False

About half of U.S. adults are now college graduates.

False

Families with high incomes are much more likely to send their children to college than families with low incomes.

True

The problem of functional illiteracy means that

many young people leave school without having learned basic skills.

Research indicates that children in the United States spend only about 13 percent of their waking hours in school.

True

Assume that you support the school choice movement. What are you likely to say is the reason that U.S. public schools perform poorly?

Schools have no competition.

The acceptance of the scientific model of medicine in the United States was symbolized by the founding of the American Medical Association in 1847.

True

Which of the following is a factor contributing to widespread obesity in U.S. society?

All of these are correct

Education is the social institution that provides members of a society with important knowledge.

True

Research shows that, in the typical college classroom, most students are active participants who speak up.

False

Research shows that college women believe

being thin is key to being attractive

Research shows that masculinity is linked to health because

our culture’s definition of masculinity encourages stress and heart disease.

Disease such as heart disease and cancer are the leading killers in low-income nations.

False

Theodore Sizer maintains that, in order to do their job well, U.S. schools need to be large and bureaucratic.

False

In the world as a whole, about what share of children reach the secondary grades in school?

Three-fourths

Parsons claimed that, to qualify for the sick role, a person must want to become healthy and act in ways to restore health.

True

What is taught in schools around the world reflects local cultures.

True

In India, a smaller share of boys than girls reach secondary school.

False

One criticism of the social-conflict analysis is that it minimizes the improvements in health care brought about by scientific medicine.

True

A larger share of young people graduates from high school in Japan than in the United States.

True

In the world today, about one-fourth of young people reach secondary school.

True

Schooling in the United States favors theoretical learning over practical learning.

False

AIDS kills more people in the United States each year than various diseases caused by cigarette smoking.

False

The topic of psychosomatic disorders is of greatest interest to sociologists guided by which theoretical approach?

The symbolic-interaction approach

Current research on human genetics promises to

all of these are correct

Upon infection, people with HIV

display no symptoms at all

Following a social-conflict approach, schooling in the United States helps to eliminate social inequality.

False

Community Colleges enroll about 40 percent of all undergraduates in the United States.

True

Rather than schools creating violence, in most cases violence spills into schools from the surrounding society.

True

Because of so many auto accidents, death rates among young people in the United States are much higher than they were a century ago.

False

People with more money to spend are more likely to become obese.

False

The extent of schooling in a society is closely tied to the society’s level of economic development.

True

In the United States, an important medical issue is

a shortage of nurses.

James Coleman concluded that the only factor needed to improve schooling was increased school funding.

False

Poor health in low-income nations reflects which of the following factors?

all of these are correct.

The U.S. health care system is one example of the model called socialized medicine.

False

Wealthy British families send their children to "public schools" that are the same as private boarding schools in the United States.

True

Approximately what percentage of U.S. adults is overweight?

64 percent

People over the age of twenty-five now account for about what percentage of all people in the degree granting programs?

40 percent

Over the course of the last century, an important health trend in the United States has been a rising death rate from infectious diseases.

False

In the United States, the infant mortality rate among low-income children is about the same as the rate for the children of the wealthy.

False

Comparing school performance, researchers have found that the most important cause of the achievement gap between rich and poor children is

differences in personal health

Following the social-conflict approach, patterns of health and illness are seen largely as a product of

how the larger culture defines health and illness

In the United States today, approximately what percentage of people over the age of twenty-five have earned a four-year college degree?

32 percent

A symbolic-interaction approach to health and medicine emphasizes

the meanings people attach to health and illness

the concept of "euthanasia" refers to

assisting in the death of a person suffering from a terminal illness

Because the United States is so rich, almost 90 percent of students attend private schools.

False

Jonathan Kozol characterizes the differences in funding of schools between rich and poor communities and the use of tracking as "savage inequalities" of U.S. education.

True

In his structural-functional analysis, Talcott Parsons claimed that society responds to illness by

using the "sick role" to relieve ill people of many daily responsibilites

One result of tracking in schools is that

the students who get the best schooling are usually those who are more privileged to begin with

On which of the following continents do we find the most countries with high rates of illiteracy?

Africa

Magnet schools encourage

students to specialized in specific areas of study.

Community colleges enroll about 40 percent of all undergraduates in the United States.

True

At what point in our history had a majority of adults in the United States earned a high-school diploma?

the mid-1960s

From a social-conflict approach, schooling in the United States transforms social privilege into personal merit.

True

Charter schools are

public schools that have the freedom to try new programs and policies.