African Americans The African American (black) experience has been one uniquely marked by slavery, segregation, and persistent discrimination. There is a lack of consensusabout whether African American or black is the more appropriate term to refer to the 39.7 million Americans of African descent who live in the United States today. Those who prefer the term black point out…
Contemporary Education in Other Nations dents are expected to respond in unison to questions posed by the teacher. Students arc expected to be fluent in more than one language; any Japanese high schools teach English. particularly vocabulary and sentence construction. Science and math courses are challenging. and Japanese students often take courses such as algebra and calculus several years before…
Disability and Employment Status One of the questions on Census 2000 asked respondents about long-lasting conditions such as a physica~ mental. or emotional condition that substantially lim- Ited important basic activities. It also asked itthey were working at a job or business. The answers allowed the Census Bureau to determ ine how many people with a disability and how many people…
Social Inequalities Based on Disability ‘Peopk with visible disabilities are often the objects of prejudice and discrimination. which interfere with their everyday life. For example, Marylou Breslin. executive director of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, was wearing a businesswoman’s suit. sitting at the airport in her battery-powered wheelchair. and drinking a cup of coffee while waiting for a plane. A woman…
Sociological Perspectives on Disability How do sociologists view disability? Those using the functionalist framework often apply Parsons’s sick role model, which is referred to as the medical model of disability. According to the medical model. people with disabilities become, in effect, chronic patients under the supervision of doctors and other medical personnel, subject to a doctor’s orders or a program’s rules, and not…
Disability What is a disability? There are many different definitions. In business and government. disability is often defined in terms of work-for instance, “an inability to engage in gainful employment.” Medical professionals tend to define: it in terms of organically based impairments-the problem being entirely within the body (Albrecht. 1992). However, not all disabilities are Visible to others or necessarily limit…
Race, Class, Gender, and Mental Disorders Most studies examining race/ethnicity and mental disorders have compared African Americans and white Americans and have uncovered no significant differences in diagnosable mental illness. However, researchers have found that African Americans report psychological distress or demoralization more often than white Americans do. III a qualitative study about the effects of racism on the everyday lives of middleclass African…
The Treatment of Mental Illness In Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault (1988/ 1961) examined the “archaeology of madness” from 1500 to 1800 to determine how ideas of mental illness have changed over time and to describe thc “birth of the asylum:’ According to Foucault. early in this period insanity was considered part of ‘everyday life. and people with mental illnesses were…
Mental Illness Mental illness affects many people: however, it is a difficult topic for sociological research. Social analysts such as Thomas Szasz (1984) have argued that mental illness i~ a myth. According to this approach. “mental illnesses” are actually individual traits or behaviors that society deems unacceptable, immoral, or deviant. According to Szasz, labeling individuals as “mentally ll”…
A Postmodernist Perspective: The Clinical Gaze In 71,( Birth of the Clinic (1994/196J), postmodern theorist Michel Foucault questioned existing assumptions about medical knowledge and the power that doctors have gained over othcrjnedical personnel andeveryday people. Foucault-asserted that truth in.medicine- as in all other-ar;as of lire-is a social construction, n this instance: one that doctors have created. foucault believed that doctors gain…
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