Anthony Giddens • Sociology 6th edition

Student Resources

Chapter 10 — Health, Illness and Disability

1. Which one of the following statements about anorexia nervosa is true?
   a) anorexia is a problem unique to Western societies
   b) anorexia is mainly found amongst working-class women
   c) anorexia was first diagnosed in late twentieth-century America
   d) anorexia has been found in Iran, Turkey and India
2. Which one of the following did McKeown (1979) argue was the main reason for better public health in the twentieth century?
   a) cheaper access to medical treatment
   b) widespread use of antibiotics
   c) the shift towards a biomedical model in medicine
   d) improved sanitation and nutrition
3. Which concept do critics of scientific medicine use to describe the use of drug therapies to treat chronic fatigue syndrome and ADHD?
   a) iatrogenesis
   b) eugenics
   c) medicalization
   d) social engineering
4. According to the UN, approximately how many people round the world died of AIDS-related conditions between 1981 and 2005?
   a) 3.5 million
   b) 48 million
   c) 150 million
   d) 25 million
5. Parsons argued that there are three main pillars to the sick role. Which of the following is not one of the three?
   a) the sick person is not responsible for being ill
   b) the sick person is allowed to withdraw from normal obligations whilst ill
   c) the sick person must accept being stigmatized
   d) the sick person must work with doctors to become well again
6. Which theoretical perspective studies illness as 'lived experience'?
   a) feminism
   b) postmodernism
   c) epidemiology
   d) symbolic interactionism
7. According to Cockerham (2007), which single factor is ‘the strongest predictor of health, disease causation, and longevity in medical sociology’?
   a) gender
   b) social class
   c) ethnic group
   d) geographical location
8. How is ‘disability’ characterized in the social model of disability?
   a) disadvantage for people, caused by a range of physical impairments
   b) disadvantage for people with impairments caused by society’s organization
   c) disadvantage for individuals caused by malfunction of a bodily mechanism
   d) disadvantage for individuals caused by a range of bodily malfunctions
9. What are the main causes of disability in developing countries?
   a) conflicts and a lack of medical facilities
   b) bad diet and lack of basic foodstuffs
   c) AIDS-related conditions
   d) chronic disease and long-term impairments
10. Which one general statement below best characterizes women’s health status?
    a) women live longer than men but experience more illness
    b) women live longer than men and experience less illness
    c) women live longer than men and report less illness
    d) men live longer than women but women report less illness
11. In which century was anorexia was first identified as a disorder?
    a) 17th
    b) 18th
    c) 19th
    d) 20th
12. Which one of the following does the term 'complementary medicine' indicate?
    a) treatment which improves self-image
    b) treatment used as well as orthodox medicine
    c) treatment used instead of orthodox medicine
    d) treatment that is free at the point of use
13. Which one of the following is NOT an assumption of the bio-medical model?
    a) illness is a breakdown in the normal functioning of the body
    b) the mind and body need to be treated together
    c) illness needs to be treated by trained medical experts
    d) the appropriate place for treatment is the hospital
14. Which one of the following is NOT a form of iatrogenesis as identified by Illich?
    a) clinical
    b) economic
    c) social
    d) cultural
15. Which one of these is NOT a version of the sick role as identified by Friedson?
    a) conditional
    b) unconditionally legitimate
    c) modified legitimate
    d) illegitimate
16. Which one of these is NOT a type of work involved in chronic illness?
    a) cultural work
    b) illness work
    c) everyday work
    d) biographical work
17. Among which occupational group are infant mortality rates the lowest?
    a) professional
    b) managerial and technical
    c) skilled non-manual
    d) skilled manual
18. Which one of the following is stressed by materialist explanations of health inequalities?
    a) smoking
    b) diet
    c) drinking
    d) housing
19. Which one of the following does Wilkinson identify as the main determinant of relative health in a society?
    a) social integration
    b) lifestyle choices
    c) social inequality
    d) work patterns
20. Which one of the following is associated with the individual model of disability?
    a) self-help
    b) rights
    c) experience
    d) expertise
21. Using the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability, approximately how many people in the UK are disabled?
    a) 4.2 million
    b) 6.8 million
    c) over 10 million
    d) over 20 million
22. According to the World Health Organization, which of these is NOT a main cause of chronic disease and long-term impairments in developing countries?
    a) poor education
    b) poor diet
    c) poor sanitation
    d) poor housing
23. Which of the following is NOT a public health measure?
    a) improving water supplies
    b) monitoring food processing
    c) taking exercise
    d) regulating burial
24. Which of the following is NOT true about the UK?
    a) women have a shorter life expectancy than men
    b) heart disease affects more men than women
    c) women report more depression than men
    d) substance abuse affects more men than women

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