Chapter 2 - Theories?

Question 1

Capitalism

Answer 1

An economic and social system based on the private accumulation of wealth.

Question 2

Commodification of health care

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Deviance

Answer 3

Behaviour or activities that violate social expectations about what is normal.

Question 4

Emotional labour

Answer 4

Refers to the use of feelings by employees as part of their paid work. In health care, a key part of nursing work is caring for patients, often by providing emotional support.

Question 5

Feminism

Answer 5

broad social and political movement based on a brief in equality of the sexes and the removal of all forms of discrimination against women. A feminist is one who makes use of, and may act upon, a body of theory that seeks to explain the subordinate position of women in society

Question 6

Functional prerequisites

Answer 6

A debated 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 7

Ideal type

Answer 7

A concept originally devised by Max Weber to refer to the abstract or pure features of any social phenomenon.

Question 8

Institutional ethnography

Answer 8

A feminist research strategy associated with Dorothy Smith combining theory and method. It begins from 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 9

McDonaldization

Answer 9

A term coined by George Ritzer to expand Weber’s notion of rationalization; defined as the standardization of social life by rules and regulation, such as increased monitoring and evaluation of individual performance, akin to the uniformity and control measures used by fast-food chains. These principles are now applied to other sectors, both locally and globally.

Question 10

Medical-industrial complex

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Meta-analyses

Answer 11

The ‘big picture’ analysis that frames and organizes observations and research on a particular topic.

Question 12

Patriarchy

Answer 12

system of power through which males dominate households. It is used more broadly by feminists to refer to society’s domination by patriarchal power, which functions to subordinate women and children.

Question 13

Rationalization

Answer 13

The standardization of social life through rules and regulation.

Question 14

Relations of ruling

Answer 14

concept used by Dorothy Smith to refer to social relations in which people are involved that dominate them, to the rational forms of knowledge that are developed, and to the organizations that administer and mange these.

Question 15

Sexual division of labour

Answer 15

Refers to the nature or work performed as a result of gender roles. The stereotype is that of the male breadwinner and the female homemaker.

Question 16

Sick role

Answer 16

concept used by Talcott Parsons to describe the social expectations of how sick people are expected to act and of how they are meant to be treated.

Question 17

Socialization

Answer 17

The process of learning the culture of a society which shows us how to behave and communicate.

Question 18

Social closure

Answer 18

term first used by Max Weber to describe the way that power is exercised to exclude outsiders from the privileges of social membership.

Question 19

Social control

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Socialism/Communism

Answer 20

Socialism is a political ideology with numerous variations but generally refers to the creation of societies in which private property and wealth accumulation are replaced by state ownership and distribution of economic resources. Communism represents a vision of society based on communal ownership of resources, cooperation, and altruism to the extent that social inequality and the state no longer exists. Both terms are often used interchangeably.

Question 21

Stigma

Answer 21

physical or social trait, such as a disability or a criminal record, that results in negative social reactions, such as discrimination and exclusion.

Question 22

Theory

Answer 22

system of ideas that uses researched evidence to explain certain events and show why certain facts are related

Question 23

Total institutions

Answer 23

A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to institutions, such as prisons and asylums, in which life is highly regulated and subjected to authoritarian control to induce conformity.

Question 24

Verstehen

Answer 24

Refers to a process of interpretative and empathetic understanding.