Medical Sociology 13th Edition by Cockerham - Test Bank

Chapter 1

Medical Sociology

Multiple Choice Questions

• Which is NOT a major area of investigation in medical sociology?
• Social facets of health and disease.
• Social behavior of health care personnel and their patients.
• Social functions of health organizations and institutions.
• The relationship of health care delivery systems to other systems.
• All of the above answers are major areas of investigation in medical sociology.

Answer: E                         Page: 1

• Medical sociology is an important area of study because:
• It promotes the role biology plays in social life.
• It represents a departure from the theory-heavy discipline of general sociology.
• It recognizes the role that social factors play in determining or influencing health.
• It is the result of a merger between medicine and sociology.
• None of the above.

Answer: C                         Page: 1-2

• Medical sociology, as a subdiscipline, began gaining strength:

• It was always part of sociology as a major focus of classical sociologists.
• After World War II with the infusion of large amounts of federal funding for research.
• Only in the last two decades when major worldwide health crises highlighted the need for it.
• It never has been a major part of sociology and exists only as a small part of the medical field.

Answer: B                         Page: 2

• Which circumstance(s) particularly affected the development of medical sociology in its early stages?
• Pressure to produce work that could be applied to medical practice and health policy.
• Rich development of theories unique to medical sociology by academic sociologists.
• Lack of attention on the role of medicine and health from classical theorists.
• A and B
• A and C

Answer: E                         Page: 3

• The scholar who first provided a major theoretical approach for medical sociology was:
• Durkheim.
• Parsons.
• Weber.
• Mead.
• Goffman.

Answer: B                         Page: 4

• What important event occurred in 1951 that began to reorient American medical sociology toward the use of theory?
• The Vietnam War.
• The publication of Parsons’s <ITAL>The Social System.
• The increase in chronic diseases.
• The growth of universities. 
• The political swing towards a more conservative era.

Answer: B                         Page: 4

• Talcott Parsons’s book <ITAL>The Social System</IT contained which concept important for medical sociology?
• Micro theory.
• Medicalization.
• Patient power.
• Culture.
• Sick role.

Answer: E                         Page: 4

• In the case of the sick role, illness is seen as __________, and its undesirable nature reinforces the motivation to be healthy.</P>
• Deviance.
• Normal.
• Biological.
• Social.
• A stimulus.

Answer: A                         Page: 4

• In developing his concept of the sick role, Parsons linked his ideas to which two classical theorists?
• Marx and Goffman.
• Weber and Marx.
• Marx and Engels.
• Durkheim and Weber.
• Durkheim and Goffman.

Answer: D                         Page: 4

• What is NOT a task of a sociologist in medicine?
• Analyze the social etiology or causes of health disorders
• Study the differences in social attitudes as they relate to health
• Understand the way in which the incidence and prevalence of a specific health disorder is related to social variables.
• Develop theory that assists in understanding social issues related to health.
• All of these are tasks of a sociologist in medicine.

Answer: D                         Page: 5