Public Health and Collective Behavior Quiz

Final Exam Review: Chapters 10-14

• Review covers chapters 10 through 14.

Chapter 10: Religion, Science, and Education

• Belief systems include claims about reality, ethical and moral claims, and technologies. These elements connect to belief systems.

• Diverse definitions exist for religion. Globally, at least 22 major religions exist. Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism are among the largest. Canadian religious affiliation and attendance are declining.

Chapter 11: Social Control, Deviance, and Crime

• Deviance is socially constructed; something is deviant if influential people deem it so. High-consensus deviance contrasts with low-consensus deviance.

• Criminal behavior represents a specific type of deviance studied by criminologists. Crime is any act violating criminal law, and specific behaviors vary over time.

• Legal elements for an act to be considered a crime include legal definitions of the act/behavior, and the prosecution proving both the guilty act (actus reus) and the intent (mens rea) needed to commit the act.

• Crime statistics provide a measurable standard definition, and the Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR) is a tool used for this. A gap exists between perceived and actual crime, particularly regarding the portrayal of violence in media versus the reality of crimes committed.

• Punishment aims to serve retribution, deter crime (prompt, severe, certain punishment), protect society, and rehabilitate offenders.

• Social control theories, like Hirschi's (1969) theory include attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief as restraints from deviance.

• Labelling theory, according to Lemert (1951), details primary deviance (an insignificant event), social penalties, and secondary deviance followed by formal penalties leading to intensified community stigmatization and the acceptance of a deviant role to perpetuate the conduct.

• Label Theory Derivatives address non-intervention, lack of positive outcomes, diversion, extrajudicial sanctions, conditional discharge, restorative justice, and harm reduction (health-centered, meeting individuals' needs, and offering different options like needle deposit boxes, safe injection sites, and halfway houses).

• Merton's modes of adaptation (conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion) explain individual responses to cultural goals and institutionalized means.

Chapter 12: Health and Illness

• Early 20th century health had trends of increasing life expectancy and decreasing infant mortality due to improved sanitation, food security, and public health/medicine. Conversely, present-day health trends include high life expectancy, with degenerative diseases replacing infectious epidemics as the main causes of mortality. New diseases correlated with social forces are noted.

• Death causes vary by sex and age. Women commonly face cancer, heart disease, and stroke; men, cancer, heart disease, and accidents. Age increases the likelihood of encountering degenerative diseases. Accidents and suicide are prevalent among those in the 1-44 age range.

• Personal health determinants include tobacco use as a leading cause of preventable death globally, with increasing rates in low/middle-income countries and declining rates in high-income countries. Advertising and movies impact youth.

• Social inequality impacts health outcomes even with personal health behavior considered. Socioeconomic status and ethnic inequality contribute, influencing access to resources like food and water as well as influencing mental health and personal determinants of health.

• Functionalist theories of health and illness, as exemplified by Parsons (1951), focus on the sick role, comprising temporary exemption from social roles, lack of responsibility for one's condition, responsibility to improve, and responsibility to seek good medical care.

Chapter 13: Social Change: Collective Behavior and Social Movements

• Collective behaviors involve group actions that are usually spontaneous, unstructured, and unconventional, sometimes occurring in crowds or as more dispersed forms (e.g., casual crowds, conventional crowds, acting crowds, etc.).

• Theories explaining crowd behavior include contagion theory, based on anonymity, contagion, and suggestibility. Blumer's theory includes milling, collective excitement, and social contagion.

• Convergence theory views crowd behavior as rational, with prior predispositions bringing individuals together (e.g. anarchists converging for a riot).

• Fashions are long-lasting, popular patterns commonly involving clothing and accessories. Specific changing fashions, 1830-1950 have been noted.

• Rumours are unsubstantiated stories that may change and distort over time. Processes such as levelling, sharpening, and assimilation will alter the content and shape of the rumour itself.

• Urban legends are abstract stories with underlying meanings that persist over time.

• Panic describes widespread fear, and examples exist, e.g. the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

• Moral panics stem from folk devils, moral entrepreneurs, mass media, and disproportionality.

Chapter 14: Environmental Sociology

• Ecological overshoot describes exceeding Earth's capacity to sustain human activity; the ecological footprint for humanity is currently 1.5 planets. Malthus (1766-1834) argued for population checks to prevent exceeding carrying capacity.

• Industrialization impacts society through factors including population size and growth rates, birth/death rates trends, and socioeconomic factors.

• Overconsumption utilizes resources at a rate that surpasses sustainability. Canada serves as an example, creating 34 million tonnes of solid waste annually.

• Greenwashing occurs within marketing, with companies presenting products as eco-friendly while they may not be. Statistics indicate the prevalence of greenwashing.