Exam 12: Sociology of the Body: Disability, Aging, and Death

In the 1970s, the poverty rate among Canadian seniors was approximately 25 percent. What was the approximate rate at the start of the twenty-first century?

What is demonstrated when architecture and urban planning do not provide access for people in scooters and wheelchairs to get around?

What do we call a society that bestows power and prestige on its oldest members and is ruled by them?

Describe, using examples, what an age cohort is.

In what year did the American Medical Association establish lack of brain function as the new standard for death?

Morgan was diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer and told he had probably six months left to live. Two months after the diagnosis, Morgan begins to write letters to his children and old friends, telling them all the things he feels he should have said but didn't. According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, what emotion is he most likely experiencing?

According to the body mass index (BMI), which of the following people would be considered overweight?

Ageism is the tendency to show favouritism toward older people.

What does BMI stand for?

Melvin just turned 87. What do sociologists call his age category?

According to the textbook, why is the body a sociological wonder?

Societies in which the oldest citizens rule, earn the highest incomes, and enjoy the most prestige are called gerontocracies.

According to the textbook, which of the following happens to most Canadians when they die?

Jodi was discussing the concept of a body project with her mother, and stated that she wanted to "redesign" her body. Which of the following was Jodi interested in doing?

Disability is a classic example of a socially constructed phenomenon.

Aalimah has been doing research on the portrayal of seniors in popular culture. She has determined that there is a great deal of prejudice against the elderly in Canada because they are nearly always portrayed as incompetent, unattractive, confused, and in need of someone to take care of them. Which term would she use in her paper to describe this phenomenon?

During the "baby boom" years after World War II, how many children would the average Canadian woman give birth to?

What do we call prejudice and discrimination against older people?

List the four activities involved in the body project, giving examples of each.

Hazel knows that all of the women born in the same year as her can expect to live to be about 80 years old. What does Hazel have knowledge of?