SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 11
Gender, Age, and Health
Section 1: Gender
Section 2: Age and Disability
Section 3: Health
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: Gender
Objectives:
 Analyze how gender roles affect the
opportunities available to men and women in
society.
 Explain how gender roles are affected by
socialization.
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What is Gender?
 Gender: comprises the behavioral and
psychological traits considered appropriate for
men and women:
VS.
 Sex: Biological identity
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Universal?
 Sex characteristics are SAME in ALL
societies.
 Gender traits …are socially created and vary
from culture to culture.
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Gender Roles and Identity:
 Gender roles:
 The specific behaviors and attitudes that a society
establishes for men and women.
EX:
Women: child-care and domestic duties
Men: Economic support and physical safety
for family.
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What are sociologists concerned about?
 Gender identity:
 The awareness of being masculine or feminine
as those traits are designed by culture.
 However, cultural values influence gender
identity and roles…have changed over the
years.
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Between Cultures:
Back to FRONT of handout!
 Margaret Mead studied 3 New Guinea
societies…discovered differences in culture.
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Tchambuli Society:
 Men & women care for children.
 Women provided food for family.
 Women were bossy and efficient.
 Men were gossipy and
artistic.
 Men wore cosmetics and
curled hair.
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Mundugumor Society:
 Aggressiveness was the norm for men AND
women.
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Arapesh Society:
 Both men AND women were expected to be
passive and emotionally warm.
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What does this mean?
 Gender roles are socially created rather
than biologically based.
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Gender Identity and Socialization:
 Learn appropriate gender-role behavior
through socialization.
 Begins at birth.
 HOW?
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Is this nursery rhyme true
today?
What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails,
And puppy-dogs’ tails,
That’s what little boys are made of.
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Expectations of Little Boys:
 Adventuresome
 Aggressive
 Physically active
 Good at math and science
 Encouraged to prepare for career
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What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And all that is nice,
That’s what little girls are made of.
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Expectations of Little Girls:
 Polite, gentle, passive
 Excel in reading and social sciences
 Creative in arts
 Look for marriage and family.
 HOWEVER, more young women
encouraged to pursue careers.
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 The family is the most powerful
agent of socialization!!
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Gender Roles and Social Inequality:
 Women:
 Adult years in pregnancy/nursing babies.
 Took on roles allowed them to stay close to home.
 Men:
 Required strength and travel away from home base.
 Hunters, traders, warriors
 Gained much prestige…source of power within group.
Patriarchy: men are dominant over women.
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Conflict Perspective on Gender Roles:
 Gender roles = reflection of male dominance.
 Through their control of economic and political
spheres of society, men have established laws and
customs that project their dominant position.
 In so doing, men have blocked women's access to
power.
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 Sexism:
 The belief that one sex is by nature superior to the
other.
 Can become a self-fulfilling prophecy:
People who believe that women are in some
way incapable of occupying positions of power
make choices based on this belief.
**Copy Image from marker board!**
Result lack of women in business,
political, and professions.
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Gender Inequality in the United States:
The Women’s Movement
Education
The World of Work
The Political Arena
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The Women’s Movement:
 Sexes were socially, politically, and
economically equal.
 Suffrage: the right to vote.
 Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
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Betty Friedan’s book
The Feminine Mystique
 She REJECTED the notion that women were
content with roles of wife and mother.
 She argued that the “feminine mystique” – the
glorification of these roles – was simply a ploy to
keep women in a secondary positions in society.
 Women began to demand greater opportunities and
fairer treatment.
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Other gains in equality:
 Congress passed several acts outlawing gender
discrimination in education and in the
workplace.
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Education:
 In today’s American education:
 57% women make up in total college
population.
 56%  women earning all bachelor's degrees
awarded.
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Differences in Degrees:
 Men:
 Engineering, physical science, architecture.
 Women:
 Education, humanities,
library science.
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What About Graduate School?
 More women attending graduate school.
 Women make up more than 57% of those enrolled
in graduate courses.
 58% earn Master’s degrees awarded each year.
 HOWEVER,
 Women are LESS likely to pursue doctoral or
professional degrees.
Turn to pg. 269
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
What about Athletics?
1970s:
 Funding for women’s athletics practically
nonexistent at most coeducational colleges and
universities!
 Female College athletes: 16%
 Female High school athletes: 8%
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 Education Amendment Act of 1972:
 Bans discrimination on the basis of gender in any
program- including athletics – at any educational
institution receiving federal funds.
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Results:
 About 40% of all college athletes are women.
 HOWEVER:
 Less than ¼ of funding for college sports goes to
women's athletics
 Female athletes receive less than one third of
available scholarship money.
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The World of Work:
 Wage gap have changed among women:
 The level of women’s income relative to that of
men.
 Glass ceiling:
 The invisible barrier that prevents women from
gaining upper-level positions in business.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
What does sociologist Arlie Hochschild say?
 Working wives work a second shift:
 Have household duties to complete.
 What about husbands?:
 Normally, do NOT volunteer to help.
 May purposely make a mess in hope that will not
be asked again.
 On average, women in U.S have at least 10
hours per week less leisure time than men.
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The Political Arena:
 Women are MORE LIKELY to vote in
elections!
 However, more men hold political positions.
 Society is more accepting of women leaders:
 EX: Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, etc…
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Age & Disability
Chapter 11:2
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Age and Disability
Objectives:
 Discuss the effect that the aging of the
population is having on society.
 Explain how the aging of the population is
affecting the life chances of older
Americans.
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Ageism:
 Ageism:
 The belief that one age category is by nature
superior to another age category.
 EX: TV commercials use elderly
people for over the counter medications,
dentures, insurance, burial plans, etc….
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The Aging World:
 About 606 million people aged 60 and older
worldwide.
 Europe: oldest region of the world.
 Africa: youngest region of the world
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Graying of America:
 The phenomenon of the growing percentage of
elderly Americans as part of the total U.S.
population.
Check out pg. 273
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2 main reasons for Graying of America
1. Advances in health care.
2. Variations in birthrates have changed the age
structure of the U.S.
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Births in U.S.  rose sharply in 1946 and
stayed the same until 1960s. (baby-boom
generation)
 Today’s Age: late thirties to mid-fifties.
 By 2030, will increase elderly population
nearly 70 million.
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The Politics of Aging:
 Elderly have become both a political force
and a topic of debate.
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Bringing needs of elderly to national level:
 AARP (American Association of Retired
Persons)
 THE LARGEST special-interest group in the U.S.
 Provides financial advice & health-care insurance
plans.
 Travel and prescription –drug discounts
 Modern Maturity- magazine
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Concerns for Elderly:
FYI
 Social Security:
 Funded by payroll or income taxes on workers,
employers, the self-employed.
 Current payroll taxes fund the benefits paid to
current retirees.
 Challenges: Declining birthrates and longer life
expectancies mean fewer workers to support
growing numbers of retirees.
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Concerns for Elderly:
 Social Security:
 Dependency ratio: the number of workers for each
person receiving Social Security benefits.
 1960: 5 to 1
 2030: 2 to 1
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“Old-Old” Challenges:
(85+)
 Medicare:
 Government-sponsored health-insurance plan for elderly
Americans and Americans with disabilities.
 Medicaid:
 State and federally funded health-insurance program for
low-income individuals.
 FYI: these programs are the sole sources of health
insurance for close to one quarter of elderly Americans.
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Is there hope for Social Security?
 Raising retirement age
 Cutting benefits
 Increasing Social Security
payroll taxes.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Age Inequality in the United States:
 Social Security have made older Americans
financially secure at the expense of younger
generations.
 Poverty rate for elderly: 10.2%
 Poverty rate or general population: 11.3%
 Poverty rate for children under age 18: 16.2 %
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 Elderly African Americans: 22%
 Elderly Hispanics: 19%
 Women are hit by poverty than are men!
 Poverty levels increase with Hispanic & African
American women.
 Poverty levels often high among old-old (85+).
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Americans with Disabilities:
 Cover a wide variety of conditions:
 Physical disabilities
 Chronic health impairments
 Mental retardation
 Mental illness
 Visual, hearing, and speech impairments.
 Blindness, deafness, and paralysis
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Prejudice & Discrimination:
 Stereotypical belief that their disabilities make
them incapable of doing productive work.
 Result: High unemployment rate among disabled.
 Receive government assistance, but still
struggle financially.
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 Disabled struggled for civil rights.
 All Handicapped Children Act of 1975:
Guaranteed children with disabilities a public
education geared toward their needs
and abilities.
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ADA:
 “Americans with Disabilities Act” (1990)
 Address 4 main areas:
1. Employment: Illegal to discriminate against people with
disabilities in hiring, promotion, and pay.
2. Public services: Transportation
3. Public accommodations: Hotels, restaurants, theaters,
etc….
4. Telecommunications: Telecommunications-relay
services (TRS)
 Hearing and speech impaired
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Chapter 11: Section 3
Health
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Section 3: Health
Objectives:
 Describe the state of health care in the United
States.
 Identify some of the special health-care
concerns of various segments of American
society.
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What are your THREE main concerns
when you receive healthcare???
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We will focus on THREE Main Issues:
Cost of Health Care
Quality of Health Care
Access to Health Care
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Section 3: Health
Health Care in the U.S.
 Focuses on THREE Main Issues:
1. Cost of Health Care – concern over the rapid rise in
health care costs
 Why rise in cost?
Turn to Pg. 281
Hospital care
Advances in technology
Fears of malpractice lawsuits
Increased spending on prescription drugs
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2. Quality of Health Care – some believe that
managed care has decreased the quality of
health care.
Managed care: limits costs by requiring
patients to choose approved doctors who have
agreed to reduced rates, requiring approval for
treatment, and setting limits on drugs that can
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
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be prescribed.
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
3. Access to Health Care – distribution of physicians,
both geographically and within the medical
profession, has limited accessibility to health care.
Geographically: Beverly Hills: 1 Dr.: 254
Poverty stricken: 1 Dr.: 24, 500
Professionally: Short in general-practice doctors.
Most in specialty fields (EX:
Cardiologists)
WHY?? More $$$
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Section 3: Health
Health Care Concerns Today
1. Health Insurance – unequal health care exists
between public and private insurance programs.
Private insurance: people pay set periodic fees.
Public insurance: government programs such as
Medicare (elderly) and Medicaid
(poor).
Canada: Gov’t finances health care through national
health insurance. HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
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Inequality and Health:
 Poor people are LESS likely than wealthy
Americans to receive adequate medical care.
 Turn to pg. 284
 …THEN, turn to pg. 282
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2. Alternative Medicine – is a concern because
there are few scientific studies on the
effectiveness of alternative treatments.
EX: Chiropractic, massage, meditation, yoga,
herbal remedies, etc….
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3. AIDS – has developed into one of the most
serious public-health problems in the U.S. and
around the world in just two decades.
AIDS: a disease that attacks the immune
system, leaving a person vulnerable to a host
of deadly infections.
HIV: virus that causes AIDS.
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HIV is transmitted through:
 Sexual contact
 Contaminated blood and tissue
 Use of contaminated hypodermic needles
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Highest Risk:
 Homosexual and bisexual males (46%).
 Intravenous drug abusers (25%).
 Sexual partners of high-risk persons.
 Persons receiving blood transfusions.
 Babies of high-risk mothers.
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How is government helping???
 Spent $10 billion!!!!
 70% went towards
care and assistance.
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A Global Affair:
 Sub-Saharan Africa:
70%
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of HIV and AIDS sufferers live!
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AIDS
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AIDS
 Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
 About 70% of the estimated 36 million people
in the world currently carrying HIV, the virus
that causes AIDS, live in Africa south of the
Sahara.
 By 2000: 17 million already died of AIDSrelated diseases.
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AIDS:
 In Zimbabwe, a child is more likely to die of
AIDS than of any other cause!!
 Treatments cost too much for Africans or
their governments to purchase.
 In Zimbabwe:
 Life expectancy fallen from 65 years to 41
years because of AIDS!!
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 Estimated that by
2010, 10.7 million
children in Africa
under the age of 15
will have lost at
least one parent to
AIDS!!
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Doctors Online?
Turn to pg. 282
 Answer #1 & #2
 Also, answer the following:
 Have you ever referred to health-related web sites
for information?
 Why do you think such online medical sites are so
popular?
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Complete the following in pairs:
Segment of Society
Special Health-Care Concerns
Poor people
Elderly individuals
AIDS sufferers
People suffering from chronic illnesses
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