Chapter 18- Sociology Of The Body Flashcards
Field that focus on how our bodies are affected by social influences
Sociology of the body
Geographic areas in which residents do not have easy access to high quality, affordable food
Food deserts
A field that explores and debates the importance of biological versus social/cultural influences on human sexual behavior
Sociology of sexuality
Biological sexuality:
Normal= heterosexual
Sex is fixed at birth, it is innate
Biological sexuality
Cultural views of sexuality:
Normal= pansexual (attracted to a person of any sex or gender- cisgender, transgender, intersex)
Sex is learned and chosen
New but currently dominant view
Cultural views of sexuality
Early research on sexual behavior done by
Alfred Kinsey
Nearly 100% men masturbated, 62% women
50% married men had extramarital affairs, 26% women
85% men had pre marital sex, 50% women
Men reach sexual peek in late teens, women in late 20s and early 30s
70% men have went to a prostitute
8% men sexual contact with animals
Findings of Kinsey’s study
What we thought as “culturally abnormal” was “statistically normal”
People prone to all kinds of sexualities if cultural restraints removed
Kinsey’s study demystified sex and brought it out of the closet: made sex normal
Rejected idea that homosexuality was genetic, it was seen as a preference
Findings of Kinsey’s study continued…
Biased sample, not random: mostly used gays, Indiana residents, college students, prisoners, whites
Critiques of Kinsey’s work
Random sample of 3400 adults
>80% men and 90% women say they had no partners other than their spouse
84% women born 1933-1942 have had sex ONLY with their husband
50% of women born after 1953 have had sex ONLY with their husband
Americans are more sexually conservative that the Kinsey study reported
Sex in America study (1990s)
Main findings
A state of complete mental, physical, and social well-being
Not only the absence of disease
Health
A diverse set of approaches and therapies for treating illness and promoting well-being that generally falls outside standard medical practices
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
A term associated with functionalist Talcott Parsons
The patterns of behavior that a sick person adopts in order to minimize the impacts of his or her illness on others
Functionalist perspective: Sick Role Theory
1) sick person is not held personally responsible
2) sick person is entitled to certain rights and privileges
3) sick person is expected to take sensible steps to regain his or her health
Three expectations of sick role theory
Conditional sick role- suffering from a temporary condition that ultimately will be cured; expected to get well
Unconditionally legitimate sick role- suffering from incurable illness
Illegitimate sick role- individual suffers from a disease or condition that is caused by others; Individual partially responsible for the illness: for example, HIV/AIDS
Eliot freidson (1970) identified 3 versions of the sick role that correspond with different types of illness
