Chapter 4 Flashcards
Derived from Max Weber, the term refers to people’s opportunity to realize their lifestyle choices, which are often assumed to differ according to their social class.
Life chances
Canada’s universal health care program funded and administered by federal, provincial, and territorial governments.
Medicare
Describes observations or research that is based on evidence drawn from experience. Empirical observations or research are therefore distinguished from something based only on theoretical knowledge or on some other kind of abstract thinking process.
Empirical
A disputed term used to highlight the point that the upper class in society has political power as a result of its economic wealth. The term is often used interchangeably with upper class.
Ruling class
A state that “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle” (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1998).
Food security
Economic policies and ideology that advocate a free market for the production and distribution of resources, an enhanced role for the private sector, and a reduction of government involvement in the economy.
Neo-liberalism
Term used to describe a political philosophy based on small-government and market-oriented policies, such as deregulation, privatization, reduced government spending, and lower taxation.
Economic rationalism
The theory that everyone benefits by allowing the upper class to prosper relatively unfettered. If wealthy capitalists are allowed and encouraged to maximize their profits, it is believed that this increased wealth will eventually “trickle-down” to the workers.
Trickle-down theory
Public policies and infrastructure to prevent the onset and transmission of disease among the population with a particular focus on sanitation and hygiene, such as clean air, water, and immunization. Public health infrastructure refers specifically to the buildings, installations, and equipment necessary to ensure healthy living conditions for the population.
Public health/public health infrastructure
The market value of all goods and services that have been sold during a year.
Gross domestic product (GDP)
The social and economic factors that contribute to a person’s good or bad health. Examples include housing, job security, working conditions, education, income, social class, gender, Aboriginal status, and the social safety net. The quality of these determinants is a reflection of how society is organized and how it distributes its economic and social resources.
Social determinants of health
The incorrect application of Charles Darwin’s theory of animal evolution to explain social inequality by transferring his idea of “survival of the fittest” among animals to “explain” human inequality.
Social Darwinism
A term coined by Ulrich Beck (1992) to describe the centrality of risk calculations in people’s lives in Western society, whereby the key social problems today are unanticipated hazards, such as the risks of pollution, food poisoning, and environmental degradation.
Risk society
A belief system that gives high priority to the interests of the least advantaged.
Social justice
A term used to refer to the social ties that are the basis for group behaviour and integration.
Social cohesion
