Education
What is a social institution
Social structures that shape our behaviors, norms, everyday practices and social relations
What is medicaid?
is a state and federal program that provides health coverage if you have a very low income.
Why do some believe that the age of people at first time (new) marriage is rising?
Postsecondary Education (Women in the labor force)
Cohabitation
Marriageable men hypothesis- “I cannot find a good man to marry?”
What is Egalitarianism (Plan A)
The ability to shift content of family life to meet family needs (ex. dad stays home, mom goes to work)
What is the “sick role” in the United States?
We are not responsible for our sickness that we don’t enjoy, and we should be exempt from our responsibility so that we can make a speedy recovery.
What is education
Formal system teaching valued knowledge & skills for societal membership
What is medicare?
is a federal program that provides health coverage if you are 65 and older or have a severe disability, no matter your income.
What is the difference between the Structure vs. content of a family?
Structure- what the family specifically looks like. For example, this family is made up of a mother, father, and three daughters.
Content- this relates more to an emotional bond or financial need that brings people together
What is the Neotraditional model (Plan B)
Dad is the bread winner and Mom is the caretaker but she can choose to work.
Why do lower income neighborhood areas have worst performing schools and facilities?
Property Tax $ from the local neighborhood finances public schools (main funding source)
wealthy neighborhoods have WAY more money for their schools (not to mention PTA support/volunteer hours)
Per pupil expenditures matter—shape educational experiences and outcomes
School is supposed to be the institution in society that provides equal opportunity (route out of poverty)....(_______) Yet, science shows it reproduces existing social, economic inequalities through sorting and stratifying students by backgrounds from which they come.
(______)
Ideal and Real Culture
What are three key issues provoking healthcare policy reform?
Cost (we pay far more as citizens and as a country than any other industrialized country.
Equity (private and Public tracks of healthcare)
Geographic distribution of services
What are three market forces that affect the roles within the family?
Technological Innovations
Social Welfare Reform
Work/Family Arrangement (Education and Employment for women)
What is concerted Cultivation
parents take a very active role in “developing” their children. They organize their lives to shape them into a certain kind of person. Children reared in this manner are usually entitled and relate to adults and authority figures as relative equals.
What is Tracking?
teachers and counselors place students into ability groups or "tracks", publicly label them, students are given differential access to valued knowledge/content and individualized instruction, and students internalize these labels and fulfill tracking prophecies.
Tracking is not done based on performance/ability, but teacher/counselor perceptions biased in favor of white, asian and upper SES kids.
Four predictable characteristics from tracking students based upon Jeannie Oakes’ research
Students are identified by their perceived intellectual
capabilities and grouped hierarchically for academic
instruction
Groups of students are publicly labeled and
characterized
Students in each group come to be defined and
perceived by peers, peers’ parents and teachers as low,
average or high ability
This system leads to students being treated by and
experiencing school life differently
What is the insurance exchange?
Transparent and competitive insurance marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy affordable and qualified health benefit plans
What are the cultural models Cherlin thinks influence how we "do" marriage and family in the U.S.?
Individualism: it's my duty to live my best life, make myself happy/take care of myself first, make choices about the kind of life I want to lead,
Marriage: Marriage is the best way to live one’s life. It is a loving relationship, a sexually exclusive partnership, and divorce should be the last resort.
These models both influence us but are contradictory in their lessons and they way they influence our behavior. We highly value marriage and individualism and individual happiness.
What is accomplishment of Natural Growth
Children are freer to pursue their own interests and engage with people of their choosing like close friends and relatives. They have some direction from their parents, but they are not persuaded one way or another. They exhibit a general distrust and distance from institutions usually stemming from their parents’ strained experiences with them.
What is the U.S. approach to early childhood education? How does it compare to France and Denmark?
Emotional or motherhood substitute. We don't spend very much (1-2% considered generous by international standards, we spend .2%).
France: educational/cognitive, gov't funded
Denmark: Social, learning through peer-based play, co-op, parent involvement and pay 1/5th
Let’s say little Johnny comes from a low-income household, and I the teacher, Mr. Hickey, put little Johnny in a remedial math group and label it accordingly. At the end of the year, Little Johnny says he's terrible at Math and therefore can not grow up to be the engineer he wanted to be.
self-fulfilling prophecy
What are some provisions to the Affordable Care Act (APA)
Persons w/ pre-existing conditions couldn’t be denied coverage
•Minimum level of benefits must be provided by all plans/insurers
•State insurance exchanges established offer competitive health care plans
•Persons not covered by employers (group based coverage) could buy insurance via state exchanges
•Medicaid expansion– persons under age 65 earning below 133% federal
poverty line receive gov’t subsidies help pay insurance premiums
•Small businesses provide insurance to their employees get tax benefits
•Children remain parent’s insurance until age 26
•Americans required by law to purchase health insurance or pay penalty
•Employers with 100+ employees required offer employees insurance or pay penalty
Plan A: contribute to and share with lifelong committed partner work of family/kids (unpaid labor) and workforce (paid labor)
Plan B: women: self reliance
men: neotraditional
gender flexible arrangements??
What is the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and education?
children from a low SES background usually receive a worse quality education, don’t have as many opportunities in the classroom, and acceptable alternatives are not available to them.
What are examples of upstream and downstream conditions of health care?
Upstream: my workplace offers free meals, gym, on-site daycare and family friendly flexibility policies (I can work 3 or 4 days a week) -- workplace, home, living environments and their social and physical features and how they influence healthy or unhealthy patterns, race, SES, neighborhood, air and water quality, zip code- near or far from factories/pollutants, etc.
Downstream-- lifestyle behaviors, # drinks per day/week, smoking, exercise, diet, how often I socialize with others vs. stay home, etc.