Society, Seventh Edition Education and Medicine

Society, Seventh Edition Education vs. Schooling Education –The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values Schooling –Formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers

Society, Seventh Edition Functions of Schooling Socialization –Primary schooling Basic language and mathematical skills –Secondary schooling Expansion of basic skills to include the transmission of cultural values and norms Cultural innovation –Educational systems create as well as transmit culture Social integration –Brings a diverse nation together Social placement –The enhancement of meritocracy

Society, Seventh Edition Latent Functions of Schooling Schools as child-care providers Schools consume considerable time & energy- activity thus fostering conformity Engages young people at a time in their lives when jobs are not plentiful Sets the stage for establishing relationships & networks Link between particular schools and career opportunities

Society, Seventh Edition Critical Analysis Functionalist approach overlooks that the quality of schooling is far greater for some than for others. U. S. Educational system reproduces the class structure in each generation System transforms privilege into personal worthiness and social disadvantage into personal deficiency

Society, Seventh Edition Schooling and Social Inequality Social control –Mandatory education laws encouraged compliance, following directions, and discipline –Hidden curriculum – subtle presentations of political or cultural ideas in the classroom Standardized testing –Is it biased based on race, ethnicity, or class School tracking –Assigning students to different types of education programs Does it segregate students into winners and losers? Inequality between schools –Public vs. Private schools Parochial schools – operated by Roman Catholic Church –Suburban vs. Urban districts

Society, Seventh Edition Critical Analysis Social conflict approach minimizes the extent to which schooling upward social mobility for talented men and women from all backgrounds Today’s college curricula (including sociology courses) challenges social inequity on many fronts

Society, Seventh Edition Access to Higher Education Money is largest stumbling block to higher education –Even for state-sponsored schools Family income is still best predictor for college attendance –Families making at least $75,000 send 64% of their children to college –Families making under $10,000 send 21.1% of their children to college On average, a person with a college degree will add almost $500,000 to his or her earnings over a lifetime A woman with a bachelor’s degree will earn two-and-a- half times as much as a woman with eight or fewer years of schooling

Society, Seventh Edition National Map 14-1 (p. 374) College Attendance across the United States

Society, Seventh Edition Credentialism Evaluating a person on the basis of educational degrees Diplomas and degrees are viewed as evidence of ability Over-education is often the case when people are overqualified for the job at hand

Society, Seventh Edition Problems in Schools Many Believe That a So Called “State of Emergency” Best Characterizes Our System of Education These Days School discipline –Many believe schools need to teach discipline because it isn’t addressed within the home setting Violence in schools –Students and teachers are assaulted –Weapons are brought to school –Society’s problems spill into schools Answer –Adjust attitudes so learning is the focus –Skillful and committed teaching –Firm disciplinary standards enforced –Administrative and parental support

Society, Seventh Edition “Cooling Out” the Poor Transforming Disadvantages Into Deficiency Just as schools can transform social privilege into personal merit, they can transform social disadvantages into personal deficiency Cooling out –The self-fulfilling prophecy by which poor students end up settling for no more than society offered them when they were first born –Some believe that community colleges play an important part in the cooling out process –Allowing students to fail in community college allows society to point the finger at them and ask them to accept personal responsibility for “blowing their opportunities” –Are the students at fault here, or is the educational system guilty of not caring enough?

Society, Seventh Edition Theodore Sizer’s Ways in Which Bureaucratic Schools Undermine Education Rigid uniformity –Insensitive to cultural character of community Numerical ratings –Success defined in terms of numbers on test scores Rigid expectations –Age and grade level expectations Specialization –Many courses, many teachers –No one teacher knows a student Little individual responsibility –Little empowerment to learn on one’s own –Don’t upset or accelerate learning for fear of disrupting system

Society, Seventh Edition The “Silent” Classroom the Norm Is to Not Talk in Class, and Students Can Get Upset at Others Who Talk “Too Much” No matter what the class size –Only a handful of students speak Passivity is the norm –It is deviant to speak up in class What makes a difference –Female instructors tend to call on men and women equally, whereas male instructors tend to call on men Reasons –Students are conditioned to listen –Instructors come to class with lectures prepared and students do not wish to get sidetracked

Society, Seventh Edition Many Students Expect Learning to Be Delivered and Don’t Realize They Are Part of the Process Apathy is high among students Reasons: –Television –Parents –Schools –Other students High tech may hold one key for sparking interest –Bringing multimedia into the classroom

Society, Seventh Edition Academic Standards A Nation at Risk - a 1983, governmental commission –Troublesome findings concerning what students are and are not learning in school 40% of those screened could not draw inferences from written materials 33% of those screened could complete multi-step mathematical problems Other insights –Functional illiteracy – a lack of reading and writing skills needed for everyday living –Lack of interest in the importance of education apathetic attitudes toward classes, course materials, doing assignments, and attendance –Belief that good grades need not be “earned,” but rather just rewarded (as if they had a right to them)

Society, Seventh Edition Academic Standards Global performance –U.S. Eighth graders still placed 17th in the world in science and 28th in mathematics! Recommendations from A Nation at Risk - a 1983, governmental commission 1.All schools should require several years of English, math, social studies, general science & computer science 2.No more “social promotion” of failing students from grade to grade 3.Teacher training and salaries should improve

Society, Seventh Edition Figure 14-3 (p. 379) Functional Illiteracy in Global Perspective

Society, Seventh Edition School Choice Introduction of competition to public schools and giving parents options might force all schools to do a better job Critics charge that these programs erode our nation’s commitment to public education especially in inner city schools –Magnet schools – schools that offer special facilities and programs to promote educational excellence in a particular area, i.e. Arts, computers,foreign language, etc –Charter schools – public schools that are given more freedom to try out new policies and programs –Schooling for profit – school systems operated by private profit- making companies (including public schools)

Society, Seventh Edition Mainstreaming Integrating Students With Special Needs Into the Overall Educational Program Five million students are classified as mentally or physically disabled Many of the five million receive marginal classroom experiences Inclusive education maintains that it is good to integrate all children Mainstreaming needs to be approached with a measure of common sense –In cases in which one has to serve the severe and profound populations, a segregated classroom may be best

Society, Seventh Edition 21 st Century Schooling Computers and other high-tech tools will become increasingly important –The amount and quality of high-tech equipment may become one of the new marketing tools for schools to out-perform one another –Computers, however, only hold part of the answer. We need humans to put into place a program that aims at providing high quality education –Will the education system play a role in dividing people into two groups in the future –Those literate and illiterate in computer skills –Will we become a country of have’s and have not’s divided along lines of high-tech competencies

Society, Seventh Edition Medicine and Health

Society, Seventh Edition Health A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being (World Health Organization) Health is as much a social as a biological issue for sociologists Illness have their roots in the organization of society

Society, Seventh Edition Society Shapes the Health of People in 5 Major Ways 1.Cultural patterns define health 2.What is considered “healthy” is what people hold to be morally good 3.Cultural standards of health change over time 4.A society’s technology affects people’s health 5.Social inequality relates to health

Society, Seventh Edition Health: a Global Survey Health in history –Industrialization changed the patterns of health, medical care Health in low-income countries –One billion people (globally) have serious illness due to severe poverty –Poor sanitation, malnutrition and minimal medical care Health in high-income countries –Infectious disease is less of a threat, concentrate on chronic illnesses

Society, Seventh Edition Leading Causes of Death: U.S.A Influenza and pneumonia Tuberculosis Stomach/intestinal diseases Heart disease Cerebral hemorrhage Kidney disease Accidents Cancer Disease of infancy Diphtheria 2000 Heart disease Cancer Stroke Lung disease (non- cancerous) Accidents Diabetes Pneumonia and influenza Alzheimer’s disease Kidney disease Blood disease

Society, Seventh Edition Who Is Healthy? Social epidemiology – how health and disease are distributed throughout a society’s population Factors include –Age –Gender –Social class –Race

Society, Seventh Edition National Map 14-2 (p. 384) Life Expectancy across the United States (continued on next slide)

Society, Seventh Edition National Map 14-2 (cont.)

Society, Seventh Edition Age & Gender Death is now rare among young people –Accidents and aids are two exceptions Across the life course, women fare better than men –Men have higher death rates for accidents, suicide and violence Our cultural conception of masculinity pressures men –“Coronary prone behavior”

Society, Seventh Edition Class and Race Infant mortality rates are twice as high for poor as for wealthy –The poorest in America can die from diseases that strike children in countries like the Vietnam and Lebanon African Americans are three times more likely to be poor compared to whites –Poverty condemns people to live in crowed unsanitary conditions that breed infectious disease Life expectance for white children born in 2000 is six years greater than for African Americans Poverty also breeds stress and violence –In 1999, 2,674 African American males were killed by others of their own race

Society, Seventh Edition Figure 14-4 (p. 386) Life Expectancy for U.S. Children Born in 2000

Society, Seventh Edition Cigarette Smoking Most preventable hazard to health By 1999, 24% of Americans smoke –Generally speaking divorced, separated, unemployed, in the military & less schooling a person has tend to be smokers 430,000 men & women die prematurely each year as a direct result of smoking –That number exceeds the combined death toll from alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, auto accidents & aids

Society, Seventh Edition Figure 14-5 (p. 387) Cigarette Smoking in Selected Countries

Society, Seventh Edition Eating Disorders An intense form of dieting or other unhealthy methods of weight control driven by the desire to be very thin 95% of those suffering from anorexia and bulimia are women, white and affluent The beauty myth tells women to exaggerate the importance of physical attractiveness to the point of risking their health Pressures come from society, parents, the media, as well as women themselves

Society, Seventh Edition Sexually Transmitted Diseases “Sexual revolution” of the 1960’s saw a rise in std rates; Generated a sexual counter-revolution Gonorrhea & syphilis –Easily treated with antibiotics Genital herpes –Treatable but incurable Aids – acquired immune deficiency syndrome –Caused by human immunodeficiency virus – HIV –Incurable, almost always fatal –Specific behaviors increase risk: anal sex, sharing needles and drug use

Society, Seventh Edition Ethics & Death When is a person dead? –When an irreversible state involving no response to stimulation, no movement or breathing, no reflexes, and no indication of brain activity Do people have the right to die? –10,000 people in the u.S.A. Are in a permanent “vegetative state” What about mercy killing? –Thousands face terminal illnesses that will cause horrible suffering –“Right to die” a person with an incurable disease has a right to forgo treatment which may prolong their life –“Active” euthanasia a person may enlist the services of a physician to bring on a quick death

Society, Seventh Edition Figure 14-6 (p. 389) Types of Transmission for Reported U.S. AIDS Cases as of 2000

Society, Seventh Edition The Medical Establishment The social institution focuses on combating disease and improving health The rise of scientific medicine –AMA – American Medical Association founded in 1847 –By early 1900’s state boards agreed to certify only AMA approved –M.D.s & D.O. (Osteopaths) on one level –Other healers kept tradition but occupy lesser role Chiropractors, herbalists, midwives, etc.

Society, Seventh Edition Holistic Medicine Holistic medicine – an approach to health care that emphasizes prevention of illness and takes into account a person’s entire physical and social environment 1.Patients are people Concern for the environment in which the person lives and their lifestyle 2.Responsibility, not dependency Favors an active approach to health encouraging patients take health-promoting behaviors 3.Personal treatment Favoring a more personal relaxed environment, such as the person’s home

Society, Seventh Edition Medicine in Socialist Societies China –Government controls most health care operations –“Barefoot doctors” in rural areas, traditional healing arts, acupuncture, medicinal herbs and holistic concern Russian federation –Medical care is in transition, but it is held the all citizens have a right to basic medical care –Tax funds are used to provide care –Disparities in medical care increase among segments of the population

Society, Seventh Edition Medicine in Capitalist Societies Sweden (1891) –Compulsory, comprehensive government medical care system offered to all “socialized medicine” Great Britain (1948) –Duel system of public health services (national health service) for all citizens and may also purchase private services Canada (1972) –A single-payer model for all citizens government program (insurance company) –But, like Britain, purchase private services Japan –Physicians have private practice –Paid like much of Europe, combination of government programs (80% of costs) and private insurance

Society, Seventh Edition Figure 14-7 (p. 394) Extent of Socialized Medicine in Selected Countries

Society, Seventh Edition Medicine in the U. S. Direct fee system –The patient pays directly for services provided by doctor and hospitals Private insurance –63% of Americans have access to medical care benefits through their work or union –8% purchase private coverage on their own –Few programs pay all medical costs Public insurance programs –Medicare for those over 65, Medicaid for those in poverty and for veterans –24% of Americans receive medical attention via some form of government program, though many also have some private insurance Health maintenance organizations –An organization that provides comprehensive medical care to subscribers for a fixed fee –Preventive approach to health; Makes a profit if subscribers stay healthy

Society, Seventh Edition Structural-functional analysis –Talcott Parsons’ the sick role Illness suspends routine duties A sick person must want to get well A sick person must seek competent help The doctor patient relationship as hierarchical Symbolic-interaction analysis –We socially construct our ideas of health and illness; How we define it becomes real –We socially construct our ideas of treatment Social-conflict analysis –Issues of: Limited access, the profit motive, and the politics of medicine Interests of one group versus others Theoretical Analysis