Exam 10: Health Inequalities, Environmental Racism, and Environmental Justice

Michael is a 60 year old African American male living in Alabama. While walking down the street, someone shouts a racial slur at him as they drive by. Hearing the slur causes Michael stress, which increases his blood pressure. Elevated blood pressure can lead to heart disease. This scenario demonstrates:

________ is institutional policies and practices that differentially affect the health outcomes or living conditions of people and communities based on race or color.

Explain Thomas Volscho's argument that Native American, Latina, and Black women are subject to sterilization racism.

Why is sickle cell disease more common among African Americans than Whites?

Whereas the disparities among White women, Asian women, Native American women, and Latina women narrow with higher levels of education, the gap actually expands for Black women.

What is the Nuremberg Code and how was it shaped by racial ideology?

Immigrants tend to have better health outcomes the longer they stay in the United States.

The _________focuses on the long-term exposure to unhealthy conditions, whereas the ________ focuses on the buildup of stressors over the life course.

Even though Latinxs have, on average, a lower socioeconomic status than Whites, they have comparable health outcomes to Whites. This phenomenon is known as the:

The United States and much of Western Europe attempt to dump their toxic waste in Africa and the Caribbean.

What is the problem with conflating racial differences in health with genetic factors?

What is the primary reason that the Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona have extremely high rates of diabetes?

Do the cumulative disadvantage perspective and weathering hypothesis adequately explain the health outcomes of Mexican Americans? Why or why not?

The 1840 U.S. Census indicated that enslaved Blacks had better mental health than free Blacks. Despite the fact that statisticians found statistical errors in the census, the figures were declared error-free. Use the concept of racial ideology to explain why these statistical errors were ignored by the U.S. government.

Researchers have found that acculturation has ___________ effects in terms of health behaviors, but ___________ effects in terms of health care usage and access.

What is the "Hispanic Paradox"? Compare and contrast the two competing explanations of this paradox. Which explanation do you think is more accurate? Why?

Numerous studies find that as African Americans age, they get progressively unhealthier than their White counterparts and are more likely to have a premature death. How does the cumulative disadvantage perspective explain this pattern? How does the weathering hypothesis explain the same pattern? Which explanation do you find most persuasive? Why?

African Americans have higher rates of physical illness than Whites, yet lower rates of mental illness. Explain how this pattern might be the result of individual racism.

Latinxs are more likely than any other racial group to die at every age.

Gains in income and wealth translate into an increased likelihood of having good health, showing a clear link between health and socioeconomic status. What evidence has been found that demonstrates how these factors work in different ways across racial and ethnic lines?