SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Dick Cheney, Organ Transplantation, Social Stratification
Document Summary
We hold these truths to be self evident that all people are created equal with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . Inalienable : not capable of being given up or transferred. One of the most important parts of the document: life. One way to think about life: organ donation. In 2013, 3,520 patients were awaiting heart transplants. In this hypothetical situation, we have one available heart for six patients. All of these patients are generally the same, except for their occupation. A functionalist perspective argues that the heart transplant should go to the most deserving or hardworking person. A social conflict perspective argues that the heart transplant will go to the most powerful or privileged person. How we stratify (rank) people on an organ transplant list: time on the waiting list, highest medical need, where a person lives, local, region, national. Former vp cheney received a heart transplant (march 2012)
