Connecting Sociology and YOU!

Chapter 14: Health, Illness, and Medicine

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centenarians, individuals aged 100 and above

Medical sociology, the sociological analysis of social interactions, organizations, and systems related to health, illness, and medicine

health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” 

social stigma, a negative label characterized by one or more personal traits that form a stereotype about the individual 

Medicalization, the process by which non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical problems 

medical-industrial complex, the multi-billion-dollar enterprise consisting of doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, drug manufacturers, and hospital supply and equipment companies

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a system in which individuals purchase shares of food in advance of production from local farmers)

sick role, the rights and responsibilities of those ill 

deprofessionalism, a decline in the power of a profession, of physicians

infant mortality rate, the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1,000 births, as Whites

Hispanic mortality paradox, the conditions by which Hispanics live longer despite lower income and health care access,

employment-based health insurance, a system in which an employer pays all or part of the health insurance premiums for the employee,

Medicaid, a government program established in 1965 funding healthcare for qualified persons living below the poverty level and/or who have disabilities,

Medicare, a government program established in 1965 funding healthcare for the elderly,

Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) is part of Medicaid and provides health insurance for low-income children.

socialized medicine, medical and hospital care funded for all citizens by the government

mental illness (HP), abnormal thoughts, behaviors, emotions, or actions that are a threat to the individual or society,

herd immunity, a population’s ability to resist disease as a result of a high percentage of its members being immune

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

physician-assisted suicide, a process in which a doctor provides a terminally ill patient with the means to end their life at the time of the patient’s choosing.

medical tourism, the practice of traveling to another country to seek healthcare.