Deck 21: E: Health and Medicine

Question 1

Use the case of obesity as the focus of an essay that explains why health and illness are as much a societal and cultural issue as they are a medical issue.

Answer 1

no answer

Question 2

Why is cigarette smoking considered the leading preventable cause of death in Canada? Describe the health consequences of smoking cigarettes.What categories of people are most and least likely to smoke? Has the smoking hazard always been recognized? Why,in your opinion,is cigarette smoking still common,especially among college students?

Answer 2

no answer

Question 3

Discuss the "right to die" debate.How has modern technology created this debate in the first place? What are the arguments for legal euthanasia? What are the arguments against it? Which side do you find more convincing? Why?

Answer 3

no answer

Question 4

What is the contribution to understanding health and medicine made by each of sociology's three major theoretical approaches? Consider the structural-functional,symbolic-interaction,and social-conflict approaches in turn.Do they agree on any points?

Question 5

What is "two-tiered health care"? Identify the positive and negative consequences of such a system.Overall,do you think we should have such a system in Canada? Why or why not?

Question 6

Compare and contrast health care in China,Russia,Sweden,the United States and Canada.Which has the best health care? Why?

Question 7

How important are the social dimensions of medical care? Discuss in terms of social versus biological dimensions

Question 8

Describe patterns of health in low-income countries.What are the most common diseases and causes of death? How do such patterns differ in high-income nations?

Question 9

What is social epidemiology? Answer by sketching patterns of health for the Canadian population,taking account of (a)gender, (b)social class,and (c)race.

Question 10

Compare and contrast Structural-functionalism,Symbolic Interactionism,and Social Conflict Theory in terms of how each can help us organize and interpret facts and issues concerning human health.

Question 11

Write an essay that explains the importance of social class to human health.How does people's income affect the extent and quality of treatment they receive? Do you think the inequality described here is a serious problem or not? Why?