Social Problems, Health, Crime, and Substance Abuse

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering basic concepts in sociology, health problems, crime, and substance abuse.

Social Problem

A social condition that a segment of society views as harmful to members of society and in need of remedy.

Ascribed Status

A status that society assigns to an individual on the basis of factors over which the individual has no control, such as age or race.

Achieved Status

A status assigned to an individual on the basis of some characteristic or behavior over which the individual has some control, such as being a college graduate or spouse.

Anomie

A state of normlessness in society that occurs when norms become weak, unclear, or in conflict with each other due to rapid social change.

Sociological Imagination

A concept developed by C. Wright Mills referring to the ability to see the connections between personal lives and the social world, distinguishing between private troubles and public issues.

Latent Functions

Consequences of social structure or social actions that are unintended and often hidden.

Manifest Functions

Consequences of social structure or social actions that are intended and commonly recognized.

Bourgeoisie

In Karl Marx's conflict perspective, the class of owners of the means of production in an industrial society who hold power over social institutions.

Proletariat

In Karl Marx's conflict perspective, the working class in an industrial society who earn wages by selling their labor.

Operational Definition

A research specification that details exactly how a variable is to be measured, particularly for variables that cannot be directly observed.

Morbidity

Illnesses, symptoms, and impairments produced within a population, often measured in terms of incidence and prevalence.

Incidence

The number of new cases of a specific health problem present in a population during a specified period of time.

Prevalence

The total number of cases of a specific health problem existing in a population at a given time.

Epidemiological Transition

The societal shift from low life expectancy and infectious or parasitic diseases to high life expectancy and chronic or degenerative diseases.

Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY)

A measurement combining years lost to premature death and years lived with a disability, where $1\,\text{DALY}$ equals $1$ lost year of healthy life.

The Sick Role

A temporary and unique social role assigned to ill individuals, carrying expectations that they seek competent medical care, adhere to treatment, and aim to return to normal duties.

Medicalization

The process of defining or labeling normal human behaviors and conditions, or newly identified phenomena, as medical problems requiring intervention.

Biomedicalization

The view that medicine can not only control particular conditions but also transform human bodies and lives.

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)

Prepaid group health plans where individuals pay monthly premiums for comprehensive services, aiming to minimize hospitalization costs through preventive care.

Managed Care

Any medical insurance plan that controls costs by monitoring and regulating the decisions and procedures of health care providers.

Transnational Crimes

Criminal offenses whose inception, prevention, or direct or indirect effects involve more than one country.

Clearance Rate

The percentage of crimes in which an arrest and official charge have been made and the case has been turned over to the courts.

Primary Deviance

Deviant behavior committed by an individual before they are caught and officially labeled as an offender.

Secondary Deviance

Deviant behavior that results from an individual being caught, officially labeled, and accepting a deviant self-concept.

Vice Crimes

Illegal activities that have no complaining party, often referred to as victimless crimes, such as illegal drug use or gambling.

Corporate Crime

Violations of law committed by corporations or their executives in the interest of maximizing corporate profits.

Corporate Violence

Corporate activities resulting in harm, such as producing unsafe products or failing to maintain a safe working environment for employees.

Racial Profiling

The law enforcement practice of targeting, stopping, or suspecting individuals based primarily on their race.

Restorative Justice

A criminal justice philosophy primarily concerned with reconciling conflict between the victim, the offender, and the community.

Probation

The conditional release of an offender into the community under court supervision for a specified period and subject to specific conditions.

Chemical Dependency

A condition in which drug abuse becomes compulsive and the user is unable to discontinue use.

Heavy Drinking

As defined by SAMHSA and HHS, consuming $5$ or more drinks on the same occasion on each of $5$ or more days in the past $30$ days.

Binge Drinking

As defined by SAMHSA and HHS, consuming $5$ or more drinks on the same occasion on at least $1$ day in the past $30$ days.

Psychotherapeutic Drugs

Prescription drugs including pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives, or tranquilizers when used nonmedically.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A preventable condition caused by maternal prenatal alcohol consumption, characterized by serious physical and mental handicaps, facial deformities, and low birth weight.

Harm Reduction

A drug policy approach focused on minimizing the negative social and health consequences of drug use, such as providing clean syringes.

Decriminalization

The removal of state criminal penalties for certain drug offenses, promoting a medical and preventive treatment approach.

Deregulation

The reduction or removal of government regulations and controls over certain drugs.

Inpatient Treatment

Medical treatment for drug dependence conducted inside a hospital or specialized facility, including medical supervision during detoxification.

Drug Courts

Specialized judicial courts that divert nonviolent drug offenders into supervised treatment programs instead of probation or incarceration.