Chapter 14 Education, Health, and Medicine. Education vs. Schooling Education –The social...

Chapter 14

Education, Health, and Medicine

Education vs. Schooling

• Education– The social institution through which society

provides its members important knowledge• Including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms

and values

• Schooling–Formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers

Schooling and Economic Development

• India– Most poor families depend on children’s

earnings– Many Indians see less reason to educate girls

• Japan– Produces high achievers, and students take

difficult exams– Only half of high school graduates enter

college

• The United States– Equal opportunity and practical learning– The United States was among the first

countries to set a goal of mass education

Illiteracy in Global Perspective

Functions of Schooling

• Socialization– Primary schooling: Basic language and

mathematical skills– Secondary schooling: Expansion of basic

skills to include cultural values and norms

Functions of Schooling

• Cultural innovation– Educational systems create as well as

transmit culture

• Social integration– Brings a diverse nation together

• Social placement– The enhancement of meritocracy

Latent Functions of Schooling

• Schools as child-care providers

• Engages young people at a time in their lives when jobs are not plentiful

• Sets the stage for establishing relationships & networks

• Link between particular schools and career opportunities

Critical Analysis

• Functionalist approach overlooks that the – School quality is greater for some than others

• US educational system reproduces the class structure in each generation

• System transforms privilege into personal worthiness and social disadvantage – Into personal deficiency

Schooling and Social Interaction

• Self-fulfilling prophecy

• Blue-eye/Brown-eye experiment with 4th grade students in 1968– Harmful effects of stereotypes

• Critical Analysis

• Beliefs about inferiority and superiority are built into existing systems of inequality.

Schooling and Social Inequality

• Social control– Schooling reinforces the status quo.– Bowles & Gintis: The 19th-century rise of

public education came when factory owners • Needed obedient, disciplined workers

• Standardized testing– Biased based on race, ethnicity, or class?

Schooling and Social Inequality

• School tracking– Tracking–Assigning students to different types

of educational programs– Disadvantaged students typically end up in

lower tracks

• School inequality– Public vs. private schools; not all the same

Critical Analysis

• Social-conflict approach minimizes extent schooling enhances upward social mobility – For talented men & women from all

backgrounds

• Today’s college curricula (including sociology courses) – Challenges social inequity on many fronts

Teachers’ Salaries across the United States

Access to Higher Education

• Money is largest stumbling block to higher education

• Family income is still best predictor for college attendance

• Those with the most schooling are likely to – Come from relatively well-off families to begin

Educational Achievement for Various Categories of People, Aged 25 Years and Over, 2010

Expanding Higher Education

• Government makes money available to help certain people pay for college

• Community colleges– Low tuition– Special importance for minorities– Attract students from abroad– Faculty focuses on teaching

Problems in Schools

• Discipline and violence– Many believe schools need to teach discipline

because it isn’t addressed within home setting– Students and teachers are assaulted– Weapons; society’s problems spill to schools

• Student passivity– Many students are bored

College: The Silent Classroom

• Passivity is also common among college and university students

• Karp and Yoels: Most students think classroom passivity is their fault

• Students find little value in classroom discussion

Dropping Out

• The dropout rate has declined slightly in recent decades

• Dropping out is least pronounced among non-Hispanic whites

• Researchers: Actual dropout rates are probably 2x government's numbers

Dropping Out

• Some reasons for dropping out:– Problems with the English language – Pregnancy– Must work to help support their family

Academic Standards

• Functional illiteracy–A lack of reading and writing skills needed for everyday living

• The US spends more on schooling than almost any other country– Teens still show low science and math skills

Academic Standards

• US students generally are less motivated & do less homework than Japanese

• Japanese students spend 60 more days in school each year than US students

School Choice

• Pro: School choice creates a market for schooling so parents and students can – Shop for the best value

• Con: Such programs erode national commitment to public education, – Especially in urban schools

School Choice

• Magnet schools– Special facilities & programs to promote

educational excellence in a particular area

• Charter schools–Public schools with more freedom to try new policies and programs

• Schooling for profit–School systems operated by private, for-profit companies

Home Schooling

• Gaining popularity • Involves more school-age children than

– Magnet schools, charter schools, and for-profit schools combined

• Pro: Better results• Con: “Takes some of the most affluent

and articulate parents out of the system”

Schooling People with Disabilities

• Half of children with disabilities are in special facilities; rest attend public schools

• Mainstreaming– Integrating students with disabilities or special

needs into the overall educational program– Works best for physically impaired students

who can keep up academically

Adult Education

• Adults return to the classroom to advance a career or train for a new job– But many also point to the simple goal of

personal enrichment

The Teacher Shortage

• School adopted new recruitment strategies

• Incentives: Higher salaries and signing bonuses

• States could make certification easier

• School districts are actively recruiting in such countries as:– Spain, India, and the Philippines

Schooling: Looking Ahead

• The last decade has seen many new ideas about schooling

• Significant changes in mass education

• New information technology will reshape schools– Won’t solve all the problems, including

violence and rigid bureaucracy

Health

• Health is as much a social as a biological issue

• Patterns of well-being and illness are rooted in social organization

Health and Society

• 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

Health: A Global Survey

• Health in low-income countries– Relatively short life expectancy – Most die before reaching their teens– Poor sanitation is a killer

Health: A Global Survey

• Health in high-income countries– By the early 20th century, death rates from

infectious diseases had fallen sharply– Now chronic illnesses cause most deaths,

usually in old age

Who Is Healthy?

• Social epidemiology– Study of how health and disease are

distributed throughout a society’s population

• Factors include:– Age, gender, social class, race

Age & Gender

• Death is now rare among young people

• Across the life course, women fare better than men

• Males are socialized to be more aggressive and individualistic– Which contributes to their higher rates of

accidents, violence, and suicide

• Higher income and wealth boosts health:– Better nutrition– Better health care– Safer and less stressful surroundings

Social Class and Race

• Infant mortality– Twice as high for disadvantaged children as

for children born into privileged families.– Poorest US children are as vulnerable to

disease as those in low-income nations

Social Class and Race

Cigarette Smoking

• Most preventable health hazard

• By 2007, only 20% of Americans smoke– Smokers: Divorced, separated, unemployed,

in the military, and less schooling

Cigarette Smoking

• 440,000 people die prematurely each year as a direct result of smoking– Exceeding the combined deaths from

• Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, auto accidents, and AIDS

Eating Disorders

• Most of those suffering from anorexia and bulimia are white, affluent women

• Research: Most college-age women believe that “guys like thin girls”

• Men typically express more satisfaction with their body shape

Obesity

• Many adults are overweight

• Obesity can limit physical activity and raises the risk of serious diseases

• Odds of being overweight go up among people with lower incomes

• Social causes of obesity– Lack of physical activity; poor diet

Obesity across the United States, 1996 and 2010

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

• 1960s sexual revolution saw a rise in STD rates, generated sexual counter-revolution

• Because our culture associates sex with sin, some people regard STDs as immoral

• Gonorrhea & syphilis

• Genital herpes

• AIDS

HIV/AIDS Infection of Adults in Global Perspective

Ethics & Death

• When does death occur?– An irreversible state involving no response to

stimulation, no movement or breathing, – No reflexes, and no indication of brain activity

• Do people have the right to die?– About 10,000 Americans are in a permanent

“vegetative state”

Ethics & Death

• What about mercy killing?– Euthanasia–Assisting in the death of a person

suffering from an incurable disease– Active euthanasia–Allowing a physician to

help a sick person die

The Medical Establishment

• Medicine–Social institution that focuses on fighting disease and improving health

• The rise of scientific medicine– American Medical Association founded in

The Medical Establishment

– Healers kept tradition but occupy lesser role• Chiropractors, herbalists, midwives

– Conflict between scientific medicine and traditional healing continues today

Holistic Medicine

• Holistic medicine–An approach to health care that emphasizes prevention of illness – And takes into account a person’s entire

physical and social environment

Holistic Medicine

• Three foundations of holistic health care:– Treat patients as people– Encourage responsibility, not dependency– Provide personal treatment

Medicine in Socialist Nations

• China– Government controls most health care

operations– “Barefoot doctors” in rural areas practice

traditional healing arts

Medicine in Socialist Nations

• Russian Federation– Medical care is in transition, but all citizens

have a right to basic medical care– Setbacks in health care, partly because of a

falling standard of living

Medicine in Capitalist Societies

• Sweden– Socialized medicine–A medical care system in

which the government owns & operates most • Medical facilities and employs most physicians

• Great Britain– Also has socialized medicine, but citizens

may choose public or private health care.

Medicine in Capitalist Societies

• Canada– Single-payer model; government is like an

insurance company

• Japan– Doctors operate privately, but government

pays most expenses

Paying for Care in the US

• Direct fee system–Medical care system; patients pay directly for medical services

• Private insurance: Few programs pay all costs

• Public insurance programs– Medicare for those over 65– Medicaid for impoverished and veterans

Extent of Socialized Medicine in Selected Countries

Paying for Care in the US

• Health maintenance organizations– An organization that provides comprehensive

medical care to subscribers for a fixed fee

• The 2010 Health Care law– Made significant changes to the way this

country pays for health care

Nursing Shortage

• Shortage of nurses as fewer people enter the profession

• Heavy patient loads, too much overtime, stressful work environment, lack of respect

• Working nurses say they wouldn’t recommend the field to others

Theoretical Analysis

• Structural-functional analysis: Parsons’ role theory– Sick role–Patterns of behavior defined as

appropriate for people who are ill– Doctors expect patients to cooperate

• Symbolic-interaction analysis: Meaning of health– Ideas of health and stress are socially

constructed– How people define a condition might actually

affect how they feel– Surgery can affect social identity

• Social-conflict analysis: Health and inequality– Access to medical care, the effects of the

profit motive, and the politics of medicine

Future of Health and Medicine

• Today, Americans take good health and long life for granted

• Individuals taking responsibility for their own health

• Double standard of health between rich and poor people

• Problems greater in low-income countries

Chapter 14 Education, Health, and Medicine. Education vs. Schooling Education –The social...

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