SOCL250 Midterm 3!

• obesity - excessive body weight, indicated by a BMI over 30

  • employment discrimination, teasing, insults, shame

  • Richardson 1961

    • 6 images of children, asked to rank how much they liked each child

      • the obese child was ranked dead last

• food deserts - geographic areas where residents do not have easy access to high-quality affordable food. These regions are concentrated in rural areas and poor urban neighborhoods.

• body mass index (BMI) - A measure of body fat based on height and weight

• sociology of the body - a field that focuses on how our health and illnesses are affected by social and cultural influences

• health - a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being rather than merely the absence of disease or infirmity

• sick role - a term used by the functionalist Talcott Parsons to describe the patterns of behavior that a sick person adopts to minimize the disruptive impact of their illness on others

  • three sets of normative expectations:

    • the sick person is not held personally responsible for their poor health - it’s out of their control

    • the sick person is entitled to certain rights and privileges, including a release from normal responsibilities

    • a sick person is expected to take sensible steps to regain their health, such as consulting a medical expert

• stigma - any physical or social characteristic that is labeled by society as undesirable

• unconditionally legitimate sick role - refers to individuals who are suffering from incurable or terminal illnesses

• illegitimate role (sick role) - applies when an individual suffers from a disease or a condition that is stigmatized by others

  • there is a sense that the individual is partially responsible for their illness

• Corbin and Strauss

  • everyday work - pertains to the management of daily life, such as maintaining relationships with others, 

  • biographical work - involves the process fo incorporating the illness into one’s life, making sense of it, and developing ways of explaining it to others

  • illness work - activities involved in managing the condition

• health disparities - inequalities in health, health care, and health behaviors across different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups

• social epidemiology - the study of the distribution and incidence of disease and illness within a population

• health literacy - one’s capacity to obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions

• vaccine hesitancy - the reluctance or refusal to have oneself or one’s children vaccinated

• socialization of nature - the process by which we control phenomena regarded as “natural,” such as reproduction

• procreative technology - techniques for influencing the human reproductive process

• Gini coefficient - a standard measure of a country’s economic disparity, where 0 represents perfect equality and 1 represents maximum inequality

• complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) - a diverse set of approaches and therapies for treating illnesses and promoting well-being that generally fall outside standard medical practices

• biomedical model of health - the set of principles underpinning western medical systems and practices. objective, body is likened to a machine

• A social network analysis study of online dating site users found that norms of homogamy are still pervasive in the US

• homogamy - dating or marrying a partner similar to oneself

• hypergamy - the preference to partner with a person with richer socioeconomic resources than one’s own

  • this tendency typically occurs for women seeking men

• Dating apps = practical

compulsion of proximity - people’s need to interact with others in their presence

• scientists recognize that consensual, pleasurable sexual relationships are an important contributor to physical and emotional health

• sexual hypocrisy!!!!!!

  • men… 

  • “respectable” women who took lovers were shamed, men were accepted

• Kinsey

  • revealed a large discrepancy between publicly accepted attitudes and actual sexual conduct

  • vast diversity in US adults' sexual behavior

• Rubin

  • sexual activity begins at a younger age now

  • double standard, but not as powerful as before

  • “hookup” culture

    • men and women were still selective in these encounters
      
      
      

• graying - a term used to indicate that an increasing proportion of a society’s population is over 65

• older adults - adults ages 65 and older

• population aging - the relatively faster growth of the older population compared to the younger population and the resulting shifts in the age distribution of the population toward older ages

• social gerontology - the study of aging and older adults

• aging - the combination of biological, psychological, and social processes that affect people as they grow older

• Alzheimer's disease -  a degenerative disease of the brain resulting in a progressive loss of mental capacity

• social aging - the norms, values, and roles that are culturally associated with a particular chronological age

• disengagement theory - a functionalist theory of aging that holds that it is functional for society to remove people from their traditional roles when they become older adults, thereby freeing up those roles for others

• socioemotional selectivity theory - the theory that adults maintain fewer relationships as they age, but that those relationships are of higher quality

• activity theory - a functionalist theory of aging that holds that busy, engaged people are more likely to lead fulfilling and productive lives

• continuity theory - the theory that older adults’ well-being is enhanced when their activities are consistent with their personality, preferences, and activities earlier in life

• conflict theories of aging - arguments that emphasize the ways in which the larger social structure helps shape the opportunities available to older adults. Unequal opportunities are seen as creating the potential for conflict

• life course - the various transitions and stages people experience during their lives

• young old - 65-74

• old - 75-84

• oldest old - 85+

• cohort - a group of individuals who were born during the same time period, and thus share a similar pattern of historical experiences form childhood to adult life

• Social Security - a federal program in the US that provides retirement benefits and disability income to qualified people and their spouses, children, and survivors

• medicare - a program under the US SS administration that reimburses hospitals and physicians for medical care provided to qualifying people over 65 years old

• emotional loneliness - the absence of an intimate confidant

• social loneliness - the absence of a broader social network

• ageism - discrimination or prejudice against a person on the grounds of age

• old-age dependency ratio - the number of people ages 65 or older, divided by the number of persons aged 18-64

• AARP - US advocacy group for people aged 50 or older

• generational equity - The striking of a balance between the needs and interest of members of different generations