Chapter 1 - Intro to Health Sociology

Question 1

Agency

Answer 1

The ability of people individually and collectively, to influence their own lives and the society in which they live.

Question 2

Biological determinism

Answer 2

An unproven belief that individual and group behaviour and social status is an inevitable result of biology.

Question 3

Biomedical model

Answer 3

The conventional approach to medicine in Western societies, based on the diagnosis and explanation of illness as a malfunction of the body’s biological mechanisms. The approach underpins most health professions and health services, which focus on treating individuals, and generally ignores the social origins of illness and its prevention.

Question 4

Cartesian dualism

Answer 4

Also called mind/body dualism and name after Descartes, it refers to a belief that the mind and body are separate entities. This assumption underpins medical approaches that view disease in physical terms and this ignore the psychological and subjective aspects of illness.

Question 5

Class (social class)

Answer 5

A position in a system of structured inequality based on the unequal distribution of power, wealth, income, and status. People who share a class position typically share similar life chances. Marx spoke of class in terms of one’s relationship to the means of production

Question 6

Ecological model

Answer 6

Derived from the field of human ecology, and when applied to public health, it suggests that an understanding of health determinants must consider the interaction of social, economic, geographic, and environmental factors.

Question 7

Epidemiology

Answer 7

The statistical study of patterns of disease in the population. Originally focused on epidemics, or infectious diseases, the field now covers non-infectious conditions, such as stroke and cancer. Social epidemiology is a subfield aligned with sociology that focuses on the social determinants of illness.

Question 8

Ethnicity

Answer 8

Sociologically, the term refers to a shared cultural background, which is a characteristic of all groups in society. As a policy term, it is used to identify immigrants who share a culture that is markedly different from that of Anglo- Canadians. In practice, it often refers only to immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Question 9

Gender/sex

Answer 9

refers to the socially constructed categories of feminine and masculine , as opposed to the categories of biological sex.

Question 10

Health promotion

Answer 10

Has recently become a goal of health policy in Canada. Any combination of education and related organizational, economic, and political interventions designed to promote individual behavioural and environmental changes conductive to good health, including legislation, community development, and advocacy. Draws attention to a variety of social determinants.

Question 11

Lifestyle choices

Answer 11

The decisions people make that are likely to impact their health, such as diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, and other drugs. The term implies that people are solely responsible for choosing and changing their lifestyle.

Question 12

Political economy

Answer 12

An approach that emphasizes the links between people’s health and the political economic, and the ideological conditions of society.

Question 13

Public health

Answer 13

Policies, programs and services designed to keep citizens healthy and to improve the quality of life. The focus is on enhancing the health status and well-being of the general population rather than just looking at the health of individual persons. Public health infrastructure refers to specifically to the buildings, and the equipment necessary to ensure healthy living conditions for the population.

Question 14

Race

Answer 14

A term without scientific basis that uses skin colour and facial features to describe allegedly biologically distinct groups of humans. It is a social construction that is used to categorize groups of people and usually implies assumed intellectual superiority or inferiority.

Question 15

Reductionism

Answer 15

The belief that all illness can be explained and treated by reducing them to biological and pathological factors.

Question 16

Risk factors

Answer 16

Conditions that are thought to increase an individual’s susceptibility to illness or disease, such as abuse of alcohol, poor diet, or smoking.

Question 17

Social construction

Answer 17

Refers to the socially created characteristics of human life based on the idea that people actively construct reality, meaning it is neither natural nor inevitable. Therefore, notions of normality/abnormality, right/wrong, and health/illness are subjective human creations that should not be taken for granted.

Question 18

Social determinants of health

Answer 18

refer to the social and economic environments in which people live that determine their health.

Question 19

Social institutions

Answer 19

Formal structures within society- such as health care, gov, education, religion, and the media- that are organized to address identified social needs.

Question 20

Social model of health

Answer 20

Focuses on social determinants of health, such as the social production, distribution, and construction of health and illness, and the social organization of health care. It directs attention to the prevention of illness though community participation and social reforms that address living and working conditions.

Question 21

Social structure

Answer 21

The recurring patterns of social interaction through which people are related to each other, such as social institutions and social groups.

Question 22

Sociological imagination

Answer 22

A term coined by C.W. Mills to describe the sociological approach to analyzing issues. We see the world through a sociological imagination, or think sociologically, when we make a link between personal troubles and public issues.

Question 23

Specific etiology

Answer 23

The idea that there is a specific cause of origin for each specific disease.

Question 24

State

Answer 24

A collection of institutions, including Parliament, the public sector bureaucracy, the judiciary, the military, and the police.

Question 25

Structure-agency debate

Answer 25

: A key debate in sociology over the extent to which human behaviour is determined by social sdtructure.

Question 26

Victim-blaming

Answer 26

The process whereby social inequality is explained in terms of individuals being solely responsible for what happens to them in relation to the choices they make and their assumed psychological, cultural, and/or biological inferiority.