SOCA01H3 Chapter 15: sociologychapter15.doc
5 Mar 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Chapter 15 health, medicine, and aging and some of chapter 16. People who could avoid the plague were the well-to-do and the jews whose religion promoted cleanliness. Some groups were more likely to die from the plague than others, health risk always unevenly distributed. Women and men, upper/lower class, rich/poor, etc. exposed to health risks at varying degrees. Suggest health not just medical but sociological issue. Ex. epidemics break out but none as bad as black death b/c of sanitation/hygiene, and today are able to team many infectious diseases with antibiotics. Medical success creates new problems such as side effects of overuse of anti-biotic. Life expectancy: average age at death of members of population. 1831: 40 for men and 42 for women 2002: 83 for women and 76 for men. But increased life expectancy leads to degenerative conditions (cancer, heart disease)
