Unit 3 Sociology -> Higher Education, and the transition to college. Sociological approach to HEALTH

Morgan’s “Preparatory Commitment” explained

High Decisions — major decisions with a large degree of importance towards life trajectories. Ex — getting a new job, getting into medical school or college, etc.

Low decisions — smaller decisions that may affect the trajectory of the high decision, but otherwise are less significant.

• High decisions lead to an intermediate hurdle, such as a standardized test or job interview. These serve as checkpoints, in a sense, that are looked at with objective criterion.

• There is a sense of a “Lottery” within the intermediate hurdle.

  • Factors such as anxiety during the day of the hurdle, or intentionally difficult questions may influence the uncertainty of the hurdle

• Individuals develop a subjective belief about their likelihood of success. Ex “I think I totally bombed that exam”

Social influences create “belief distributions”

Uncertainty and impression of beliefs are allowed to be a function of the amount of available information

ex. How many college graduates do you know vs. amount of college droupouts?

Status Attainment Model

Family background and SES → Academic Achievement → Educational Attainment.

• Within Family Background/SES, Financial, social, psychological, cultural capital/expectations should be considered.

History of Higher Education Institutions in the United States.

Harvard (1636) and William & Mary (1693) were the first institutions of higher education in the US

World War II saw an increase in education through veteran educational funding, and the GI bill

• Federal funding/research

• College for all, and post-secondary education transition

• Now, more WOMEN than men attend and graduate college.

• High School graduation rates, bachelors or higher degrees have increased.

What is the purpose of college?

Three different theories attempt to answer this:

• Theory 1: Meritocratic — A 4+ year intelligence test

  • College is a filtering mechanism for talent and effort

  • Signals to employers that an individual has the intellectual capacity and discipline to succeed in demanding tasks.

• Theory 2: Democratic — A forced broadening of horizons

  • College expands one’s worldview, by exposing students to diverse ideas, cultures, perspectives

  • Promotes critical thinking, intellectual growth, and civic engagement.

• Theory 3: Vocational — Higher Order Vocational Training

  • Servves as advanced training for specific careers, equipping students with technical skills + specialized knowledge to succeed.

  • Applied knowledge and job-specific competencies.

“Coming of Age” — main points (De Luca)

There are structural obstacles to college enrollment

• Ex. The amount of people going to college within your family, inadequate resources, inability to pay for college tuition

• Other ex. I may not be incentivized to go to college, if my high school was full of violence and trauma

• Divorce/expidited adulthood → allows individuals to function more independently despite adverse life experiences.

“Social problems — sociological solutions??”

Some examples include:

• Climate change as a sociological problem

• Inequality in…education, race, weatlth

• Racism in of itself

• Population changes and diversity

• Information and privacy

Can we take a different and more global perspective to sociological problems?

• Who benefits, who is hurt, and how is the functioning of society improved?

• Always consider heterogeneity.

  • Cultural differences, socioeconomic differences, differences across the life course.

• Revisiting the sociological imagination — helps us understand people/actions better.

  • Agency and constraints, the importance of social relationships and socialization, and, of course, the intersection of personal biography and social history.

• Linking the macro-level and micro-level.

  • Making individual decisions of PERSONAL interest can take away resources, and the general wellbeing of OTHERS. Ex. Think of widespread refusal of childhood vaccination.

From the movie — “For Love of Water” — Key ideas

Examples of environmental racism:

• Birth defects in Mexico are more common in industrial areas

• In bolivia, 1 in 10 children die before age 5. This is mostly due to a lack of clean Water.

• In South Africa, some people who cannot afford water filtration are forced to drink water from an unsanitary nearby river. Fetus exposed to unsafe fluids.

Creating an ecologically-sustainable culture:

• Disinfecting water with UV light

• Working to fight climate change effects/consequences

• Spending less on bottled water, redirecting to water filtration resources

• Better allocation of money.

Ecologically-Sustainable Culture

A way of life that meets the needs of present generations without threatening the environmental legacy of future generations

Environmental Racism

Patterns of development that expose poor people, especially minorities, to environmental hazards.

Is water a human right??

Sociology of health

Main questions:

1) What is considered “Healthy?”

2) how does disease spread

3) Why is addiction and mental health criminalized?

Social epidemiology

The study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society’s population

• Morbidity (Rates of illness) and Mortality (Rates of Death) are considered

• Connection between wealth and health

• Institutionalization of medicine. Think about how competitive being a dermatologist or opthamologist is, for example.

Structural-Functionalist Approach to Health

Disease is a threat to social order.

• Sick people are supposed to act in certain ways. Yet in other ways, disorderly conduct (not going to work, etc).

• Culturally-developed ideas about what the sick role is

Sick Role — patterns of behavior defined as appropriate for people who are ill.

Doctors perform a function within society too.

Symbolic Interactionism perspective to Health

Much of health is socially constructed (ex. illness, treatment, personal identity)

• Think about “sane in insane places” — what is designated as mental illness?

• Or, think of Ferris Bueller’s day off — based off how Ferris act to parents, parents think he is desperately ill.

Bedside manners and patient-doctor interations can drastically change our opinions of healthcare based off how positive or negative these interactions were.

Social Conflict Perspective of Health

Unequal distribution of access to “good medical care,” and what groups actually have access to this

• Medicine can be used as politics, and who’s bodies are regulated more

• Profit medicine and the drug industry.

The Sociological Imagination and how society shapes our health

It is important to observe:

• Cultural patterns, standards of health changing over time, role of new technologies, social inequality.

“Women get sicker, but men die quicker” — Lorber and Moore

Statistical Patterns — AAPPS

• Access to medical technology and medical knowledge

• Availability of clean water and clean food

• Protection from occupational traumas

• Protection from environmental pollutions

• Social hazards at a minimal

Racial, gender, and economic inequality — linkage to health throughout the life stages

• Childbirth and infancy — best indication is MOTHER’s health. Prenatal care.

• Adolescence — maybe issues with eating disorders, or mental health due to outside social foces. Or, Vaping/Drinking unhealthy habits that start at an early age.

• Adulthood — mental health issues are a continuation of work stress

• Old Age — technology may be confusing to those who grew up and were socialized into a world without it, which may cause them to fall behind or not take proper advantage of modern resources

• Death/Dying — timing of death mahy be pattern related, holding on until after certain events or major life experiences.

CONNECTION between religion and health. Another institution which may have a socializing effect on health

Religious people tend to have better physical health.

• Lower mortality rates, fewer health problems

• Quicker recovery times

• Feeling less pain/pain management

• Living longer with chronic, incurable diseases

• Mental Health benefits/fortitude.

Mediational pathway between health and religion

Religion affects SOMETHING which affects your health.

• This something (A Mediator) may be:

  • Social support,

  • health behavior/ways to act within a religion,

  • Psychological comfort/security

  • Socioeconomic status

  • cushions against financial hardship

Spurious Pathway between health and religion

The Mediator affects BOTH religion and health, even when these are not centrally linked.

• Ex. Ice cream sales and murder rates both increase in july, but these are nowhere near causal.

• People of higher SES are more likely to be more religious and have better health outcomes, again not causal.