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Sociology 4
Chapter 13, 15, 16
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Social Institutions | An organized sphere of social life, or societal subsystem, designed to meet human needs. |
Family | A social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children. |
Marriage | A legal relationship, usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing |
Descent | The system by which members of a society trace kinship over generations. |
Cohabitation | The sharing of a household by an unmarried couple. |
Religion | A social institution involving beliefs and practices based on a conception of the sacred. |
Cult | A religious organization that is largely outside a society's cultural traditions. |
Fundamentalism | A conservative religious doctrine that opposes intellectualism and worldly accommodation in favor of restoring traditional, otherworldly religion. |
Economy | The social institution that organizes a society's production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. |
Capitalist | An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned. |
Socialism | An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. |
Politics | The social institution that distributes power, sets a society's agenda and makes decisions. |
Monarchy | A type of political system in which a single family rules generation to generation. |
Democracy | A type of political system that gives power to the people as a whole |
Authoritarianism | A political systems that denies popular participation in government. |
Totalitarianism | A highly centralized political system that extensively regulates people's lives |
Terrorism | Acts of violence or the threat of violence used as a political strategy by an individual or a group |
Education | The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts and job skills as well as cultural norms and values. |
Tracking | Assigning students to different types of educational programs. |
Functional illiteracy | A lack of the reading and writing skills needed for everyday living. |
Medicine | The social institution that focuses on combating disease and improving health |
Health | A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. |
Holistic medicine | A approach to health care that emphasizes the prevention of illness and takes into account a person's entire physical and social environment |
Socialized medicine | A medical care system in which the government owns and operates more medical facilities and employs most physicians |
Direct-fee system | A medical care system in which patients pay directly for the services of physicians and hospitals. |
Functions of the Family | Socialization, Regulation of Sexual Activity, Social Placement, Material and Emotional Security |
Socialization | The family is the first and most important setting for child rearing. |
Regulation of Sexual Activity | Doing this is in the interest of maintaining kinship organization and property rights. |
Social placement | Maintain social organization because of parents confer their own social identity (race, ethnicity, religion, social class) on children at birth. |
Material and Emotional Security | Family as a "haven in a heartless world" offering physical protection, emotional support, & financial assistance. People living in these tend to be healthier than those living alone. |
Strengths of Families | Care and comfort, Bonds, Moral standards, Base of standards (religion), Family support programs. |
Weaknesses of Families | "Broken" homes. Lack of communication. Divorce. Selfishness. Impulse society. We just dive into things around these parts. Lack of time together. Extra-marital and the acceptance of it. |
Functions of Religion | Social cohesion, Social control, Providing meaning and purpose |
Social Cohesion | Religion unites people through shared symbolism, values and norms. Religious thought and ritual establish morality and rules of fair play that make organized social life possible. |
Social Control | Society uses religious ideas to promote conformity. |
Providing Meaning and Purpose | Religious belief offers the comforting sense that our belief lives serve some greater purpose. Strengthened by such beliefs, people are less likely to despair when one of life's calamities strikes. |
Four Categories of Political Systems | Monarchy, Democracy, Authoritarianism, Totalitarism |
Functions of Education | Socialization, Cultural Innovation, Social Integration, Social Placement |
Socialization | As societies gain complex technology, they turn to trained teachers to convey specialized knowledge. |
Cultural Innovation | Schools create and transmit culture. Research in universities leads to new discoveries and changes in ways of life. |
Social Integrations | Mold a diverse population into a unified society sharing norms and values. |
Social Placement | Schools identify talents and see that students receive instruction to meet their needs. They enhance meritocracy by rewarding talent and hard work regardless of social background and provide a path to upward social mobility. |
Strengths of Medicine | Advance technology. Best in the world for those who have money. Surgical procedures. Training of professionals. Medical "miracles" that save people's lives. Competition drives quality. |
Weaknesses of Medicine | 1 out of 6 have no insurance-- 47 million uninsured. Ranked 37th in the world by WHO. Americans pay more for health care. Costs of competition. "For Profit" theme. Complicated financial system. Spend more money on medical care per capita. |
Distinctive Features of Capitalism | Private ownership of property. Pursuit of personal profit. Competition and consumer choice. |
Distinctive Features of Socialism | An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. |
Impacts of Global Economy | Global div of labor. Products pass through > one nation. Nat govts no longer solely control the economic activity that takes place within their borders. Small # of buz control vast share of the world’s economic activity. Rights & opportunities of workers. |
Reasons for Voter Apathy | Indifference. Alienation. |
Indifference | People are basically content with their lives. Culture emphasizes individual approach to problems. |
Alienation | People are so deeply dissatisfied with society that they doubt elections will make any real difference. |
4 Basic Ways Society Affects Health | Cultural patterns define health. Cultural standards of health change over time. A society's technology affects people's health. Social inequality affects people's health. |
Cultural Patterns Define Health | Standards of health vary from cultural to cultural. Ex. Skin diseases in Africa. |
Cultural Standards of Health Change Over Time | Washing hair once a week. Baths once a week. Smoking. |
Social Inequality Affects People's Health | All societies distribute resources unequally. Overall, the rich have far better physical, mental, and emotional health then the poor. |
Major Health Care Issues | Access to Care. The Profit Motive. Medicine as Politics. Bioethics |
Access to Care | The US stands alone among industrialized societies in having NO government-operated program of care for everyone. Capitalist societies allow health to follow wealth. |
The Profit Motive | This turns physicians, hospitals, and pharm. into a multibillion-dollar corporations. The quest for higher profits may encourage unnecessary tests and surgery. |
Medicine as Politics | Although science declares itself to be politically neutral, scientific medicine often takes sides on significant social issues . This strongly opposes govt medical care programs. (Health and insurance lobbyists are both in top 10 PAC groups.) |
Bioethics | Technology advances have blurred lines between life and death. Abortion. Euthanasia. (When does death occur? Do people have a right to die?) Human Genome Project. |
Two General Economic Models | Capitalism, Socialism |