SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Age & Disability
Chapter 11:2
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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.
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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.
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The Politics of Aging:
 Elderly have become both a political force
and a topic of debate.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
“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.
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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 %
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 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+).
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 11: Section 3
Health
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
What are your THREE main concerns
when you receive healthcare???
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
We will focus on THREE Main Issues:
Cost of Health Care
Quality of Health Care
Access to Health Care
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
HIV is transmitted through:
 Sexual contact
 Contaminated blood and tissue
 Use of contaminated hypodermic needles
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
How is government helping???
 Spent $10 billion!!!!
 70% went towards
care and assistance.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
A Global Affair:
 Sub-Saharan Africa:
70%
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of HIV and AIDS sufferers live!
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
AIDS
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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!!
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 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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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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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