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MCAT
Course: MCAT > Unit 13
Lesson 1: Social structures- Understanding social structures questions
- Macrosociology vs microsociology
- Social institutions
- Social institutions - education, family, and religion
- Social institutions - government, economy, health and medicine
- Functionalism
- Conflict theory
- Social constructionism
- Symbolic interactionism
- Rational choice-exchange theory
- Social theories overview (part 1)
- Social theories overview (part 2)
- Relating social theories to medicine
- What are social groups and social networks?
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Social institutions - government, economy, health and medicine
Created by Sydney Brown.
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- When discussing low paying vs high paying jobs like garbageman vs pro athlete, its not so much specialization as it is human capital. Brands and sports organizations make millions off of pro athletes because people in society pay for tv and products, so naturally athletes will get a higher pay. Those millions earned off of the athletes can be invested in other businesses that grow the economy and make the nation even wealthier. Even though garbageman are essential, it is not a pleasant job, plus almost any human is capable of doing it. You were trying to argue pay based on arbitrary worth to the community instead of by individual human capital, which actually does lead to more prosperous societies.(6 votes)
- If being a garbageman is something that "almost any human is capable of doing" as you mentioned, and being a professional althlete is something not many are capable of doing, that sounds like a difference in specialization. The point of the lecture is how we value these specialized professions more despite how essential they are, not that those specialized professions (like athletes) aren't important. While pro athletes can stimulate the economy, which is important yes, we could function without them. If nobody collected our garbage, society would move into disequilibrium.(24 votes)
- I love the absolutely rosy way communism and socialism are depicted here... I honestly don't know how one could make the argument that communism means that "everything is owned by the community as a whole" with a straight face.
It might be useful to investigate things like the idea of the "Tragedy of the Commons", or what happened in world history every time it had been attempted?
At least as an intellectual counterpoint so that we can have intellectual diversity?(1 vote)- The way she described the systems listed is simplified, but accurate. Clearly the point of this video is to give an overview of different political/economic systems and not to compare and contrast their successes and failures or start a debate over them. That could be an entire course in itself.(13 votes)
- I think the idea of a sanitation worker being considered poorly paid a lousy example (e.g., NYC sanitation workers can make a 100k/yr with overtime). On the other hand, pro athletes are rare, and it is not an easy job, which is why they are paid so much. In fact, I would argue it is the fault of fans and the people who allow sports to make so much money that has enabled athletes to get paid so much. All I'm saying is that while the general ideas are present in this video there a lot more to these phenomena people should be aware of.(3 votes)
- I agree with your point about the sanitation workers being poorly paid but I think it's pretty representative with respect to how they can be considered socially. As for the athletes, note that she's talking about division of labor here () and value of labor. Athletes can for the most part be considered non-essential to societal function ( 1:17) so the idea is that how much they're paid is disproportionate to that role. Hope that helps! 1:28(8 votes)
- Isn't one of the main characteristics of monarchy that the power is inherited by the monarch's offspring? And isn't a monarchy then an authoritarian system as it is ruled by a single person? Often it is not permitted to protest against the king/queen which would be a prohibition of anti-regime activity. (excuse my english)(3 votes)
- It is not necessary that a monarchy be authoritarian. An absolute monarchy is authoritarian since there are no restraints on the monarch, but in a constitutional monarchy there is division of power. Some modern constitutional monarchies, like the UK, have democratic parliaments; it would be hard to say that the UK has an authoritarian government.
Further, power doesn't have to be inherited only through birthright. There could be transfer of power through marriage, or even transfer of power through upheaval or abdication. I do think that transfer of power through birthright is typically associated with absolute monarchies.(4 votes)
- how does government relate to medical health and medicine(2 votes)
- What is the mean of nuclear family ?(1 vote)
- The social unit of a couple (culturally/socially defined as two parents) and the children that are dependent on them.(2 votes)
- Is democracy really a type of government. I mean if everyone hates a dictator, than he will be overthrown isn't that democracy. Therefore would that just make democracy a principle of nature and not a man made governmental structure ?(0 votes)
- Historically, dictators have gotten around democracy by oppressing their own people until they are too weak to rebel (by starvation, lack of access to good healthcare, etc.). Also there are military dictatorships which use armed forces suppress any potential rebellious groups.(4 votes)
- how does the health goverment work(1 vote)
- What if there was no Government or jobs?(1 vote)
Video transcript
Voiceover: Now that we've examined
education, family and religion, lets take a look at the government and
economy. We give the government the power and
authority to manage the country. Some governments take into consideration
the will of the people, like democratic systems where all citizens participate in government, like law making and choosing
officials. Others rule autonomously like
authoritarian systems which command absolute obedience to
authority. Dictatorships are authoritarian systems
where the government is ruled by an individual without the consent of
the citizens. Other types of political systems include
communism, which is a classless, money less system, where all property is
owned by the community. A monarchy is a government that is
embodied by a single person. There are many facets to the government
but the queen or king is the figurehead. There are also a couple different economic
systems in our world. Capitalism is motivated by profits, and
features private ownership of production, with a market economy based on
supply and demand. Socialism is motivated by what benefits
the society as a whole, and features common ownership of production
that focuses on human needs and economic
demand. The division of labor in our government
and economy is functionalist, meaning everyone is
expected to have a responsibility in society. It is interesting how we value certain
types of labor more than others. Garbage men, who are essential to society
are not well valued and not well paid. Athletes on the other hand are
non-essential but they are highly valued and well paid. We value jobs that require lots of
specialization and education, rather than the jobs that are essential to
our society. This creates inequalities because no
everyone has access to those valued professions due to limited
education or resources. We see this disparity throughout society, including education and healthcare and
medicine. Healthcare and medicine is the final
institution we will examine here. We know medicine exists to keep people
healthy. But it also has other effects on society. Medicalization for example occurs when
human conditions get defined and treated as medical conditions, and become a subject of medical study, diagnosis, and
treatment. This often occurs with mental health type
issues, like sadness and attention, but also can occur with
physical issues like birth. People are becoming over-diagnosed with
depression or ADD. While it is true that these are serious
conditions, being sad doesn't mean you're depressed, and having
difficulty focusing doesn't mean you have ADD. Birth has become medicalized, as women and doctors plan C-sections, rather than
having natural births. Another effect of health and medicine is
the sick rule. This is the expectation within society
that allows you to take a break from responsibilities in order to
get better when you're sick. But if you don't get better or don't
return to your place in society, you are viewed as
deviant and harmful to society. And major part of the institution of health and medicine is the delivery of
healthcare. There are massive inequalities in terms of
access. We take care of the elderly through
Medicaid and Medicare and the children through child health insurance programs,
but the people in between get left behind. These are the people who populate the
working force. And when they get sick it can seriously
affect society. The Affordable Care Act is trying to fix this gap, but it's still too early to
tell. We spend a lot of money on healthcare, but
we don't get the desired outcomes because
people still get sick. This is because we invest a lot more money
in helping people once they are sick, than in
developing preventative medicine. Almost everyone will be sick at some point
in their lives. The illness experience is the process of
being ill and how people cope with their
illness. Being ill can change a person's self
identity. The diagnosis of a chronic disease can
take over your life where every decision revolves
around the disease. There are stigmas associated with certain
diseases, like mental illnesses or STDs, that can affect how
others perceive you. Even how people experience a disease
differs depending on if they have access to resources, like
palliative care. Social epidemiology looks at health
disparities through social indicators like race,
gender, and income distribution, and it looks at how
social factors affect a person's health. There's a correlation between social
advantages or disadvantages and the distribution of
health or disease. Well, there we have it, a closer look into the institutions that make up and support
our society. But this is just skimming the surface. There is so much more depth to every topic
here, more facts, more consequences. Just take a look at your world to see how
much more there is to this institutions that
perhaps once seemed simple.