4.2.3.5 Medicine, the health professions and the health industry Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Which term describes the control that doctors hold over other health workers and over the definition of health problems, as argued by Eliot Freidson?

   • Bureaucratisation, in which rules and hierarchies replace professional judgement in the delivery of services
   • Proletarianisation, in which professional workers are reduced to wage labour with no control over their work
   • Professional dominance, in which the medical profession controls its own work and shapes the wider health system
   • Deskilling, in which health workers lose control of their tasks as work is broken into simple routines

2. What is meant by a 'profession' in sociological terms, as opposed to an occupation?

   • An occupation with a specialised body of knowledge, a long period of training and some self-regulation or control over entry
   • Any job that requires a university degree, with no regulation of entry or any independent code of conduct
   • Any paid job that involves working with other people, regardless of the training needed or how entry is regulated
   • Any job carried out in the public sector, which is funded by the state and governed by national pay scales

3. Which concept describes the way medicine is organised around the doctor's authority, while nurses and other staff are subordinate in the health hierarchy?

   • The sick role, which gives patients exemption from normal duties in return for seeking competent medical help
   • The gendered hierarchy of medical work, in which mainly male doctors have higher status than mainly female nurses
   • The biopsychosocial model, which integrates biological, psychological and social explanations of illness and care
   • The medical gaze, which describes how clinical observation classifies patients as bodies to be examined and managed

4. What is meant by the 'health industry' in a sociological analysis of health?

   • Only the family and informal carers, who provide most unpaid health care in the home without any financial reward
   • Only charities and volunteer organisations, which provide free help to patients with no commercial interest at all
   • The commercial sector of pharmaceutical companies, medical technology firms, private providers and insurers that profit from health care
   • Only the NHS and local authority public health departments, which are funded entirely by central government taxation and planning

5. What is a key concern of sociologists about the globalised pharmaceutical industry?

   • Pharmaceutical companies only produce medicines for poor countries, which leaves wealthy markets with fewer drugs
   • Pharmaceutical companies are legally required to give their medicines away free in every country of the world, regardless of cost
   • Pharmaceutical companies have no influence on which diseases are researched, because research is set by governments
   • Drug companies may prioritise profitable treatments for wealthier markets, so diseases of poorer countries get less research

6. What is meant by 'brain drain' in the globalised health workforce?

   • The closure of medical schools in developed countries because of falling demand for training places
   • The loss of mental function caused by poor nutrition in countries where health services are underfunded
   • The transfer of hospital equipment from wealthy countries to poorer countries through international aid programmes
   • The migration of trained health professionals from poorer countries to richer ones, where pay and conditions are often better

7. Which sociologist's study of the medical profession in the United States argued that the profession's authority rests on its control of knowledge and the market for medical services?

   • Erving Goffman, who studied the experience of patients in total institutions such as asylums and hospitals
   • Talcott Parsons, who developed the sick role as a way of describing the obligations of ill people in society
   • Paul Starr, in The Social Transformation of American Medicine
   • Ivan Illich, who argued that modern medicine causes harm through iatrogenesis and the expansion of control

8. Which concept describes the process by which a health worker's job is broken into simple, repetitive tasks, so that their skill and control over work is reduced?

   • Deskilling
   • Medicalisation, in which normal life events are treated as medical problems that require clinical intervention
   • The inverse care law, in which areas with the greatest need receive the fewest health services in proportion
   • Professional dominance, in which a profession keeps control of its knowledge and sets the standards of its own work

9. Which factor is most often cited as limiting women's access to senior positions in medicine?

   • Gendered expectations about caring roles and informal barriers within professional hierarchies
   • Women being legally barred from studying medicine at any university in the United Kingdom in the modern period
   • Women being unable to complete medical training because the length of the course is physically too demanding for them
   • Women choosing to work only in private hospitals, which keeps them out of senior positions in the NHS

10. A private company sells diagnostic scanning equipment to hospitals and charges fees for each scan. Which sociological perspective would most closely examine the company's influence on health care?

    • A critical perspective on the health industry, which examines how commercial interests shape treatment decisions and costs
    • A symbolic interactionist perspective, which examines how the company's staff interpret their daily routines at work
    • A postmodernist perspective, which examines how the company's advertising creates fluid and shifting consumer identities
    • A functionalist perspective, which examines how the company helps to maintain stability and social order in the system

11. Which concept describes the way that a health professional's authority is based on expertise and qualifications, rather than on the patient's own judgement?

    • Consensus, which rests on shared values among the population as a whole, including patients and professionals alike
    • Traditional authority, which rests on long-established customs and practices that are accepted as legitimate in society
    • Charismatic authority, which rests on the personal qualities of a leader that followers accept without reference to rules
    • Professional authority, which rests on specialised knowledge and training that patients are expected to accept

12. Which factor is most likely to explain the rising demand for private health care in many countries?

    • Long waiting lists in public systems, which encourage some patients to pay for faster treatment
    • A legal requirement that all patients must pay privately for their first consultation with any doctor
    • A fall in the number of people who have any health need, which reduces the demand for all types of medical care
    • A decision by governments to close all public hospitals, which forces every patient to use private services

13. Which argument would Ivan Illich most likely make about the expansion of the medical profession?

    • Professional medicine has become so dominant that it can cause harm and reduce people's capacity to care for themselves
    • Professional medicine has no capacity to cause harm, so patients should always defer to doctors without question
    • Professional medicine is a neutral body of knowledge that has no effect on the social position of patients or workers
    • Professional medicine should be expanded into every area of life, because self-care is always less effective than medical care

14. Which concept describes the process by which the health industry sells health products and services to patients as consumers?

    • The commercialisation of health care, in which health needs are turned into markets for products and services
    • The decentralisation of health care, in which decisions are moved from central government to local bodies
    • The bureaucratisation of health care, in which decisions are made through formal rules and hierarchical offices
    • The professionalisation of health care, in which occupations gain formal training and self-regulated control

15. Evaluate the claim that the pharmaceutical industry always serves the public good.

    • The claim is confirmed by the fact that drug prices are set by governments in every country and cannot be influenced
    • The claim is fully supported, because commercial companies cannot profit from a product unless it is in the public interest and benefit
    • The claim is irrelevant, because drugs are developed only by universities and charities that have no commercial interest
    • The claim overlooks that commercial incentives can shape which drugs are developed and priced, so public benefit is not guaranteed

16. Which factor best illustrates the 'globalised' nature of the health industry?

    • Every hospital in the world using identical equipment and staffing, which is the same in all countries and regions
    • Patients travelling across borders for treatment and health companies operating in many countries at once
    • Health care being provided entirely within national borders, with no foreign companies or international trade in services
    • Health workers remaining in one country for their whole careers, with no migration to or from other countries

17. Why might sociologists be cautious about a rise in the number of health professionals working in the private sector?

    • It guarantees faster care for everyone, because private providers reduce waiting lists in the public sector automatically
    • It may increase inequality in access, as those who can pay receive faster care, while public services may lose experienced staff
    • It has no effect on the public sector, because public and private health workers never interact in any part of the system
    • It always improves equality of access, because private providers treat patients equally regardless of their ability to pay

18. Which conclusion best follows from the sociological view that professional medicine holds power over the definition of illness?

    • Only patients can define illness, so professional knowledge has no value in any form of health care or diagnosis
    • Definitions of illness and treatment reflect professional interests as well as scientific knowledge, so they can be challenged
    • Illness is always defined by the market, so professional knowledge and scientific evidence have no effect on diagnosis
    • Definitions of illness are entirely objective and free of any professional or political interests, so they cannot be challenged

19. A hospital is run as a private company that is paid by insurers for each procedure performed. What is the most likely sociological concern about this arrangement?

    • Patients will receive fewer procedures than they need, because private companies are always more cautious about treatment
    • Insurers will have no influence on the number of procedures carried out, because doctors make all decisions alone
    • The company will be unable to make a profit, because insurers never pay for procedures carried out by private firms
    • Financial incentives may encourage more procedures than are clinically needed, so profit can shape treatment decisions

20. Which term describes a profession's use of qualifications, licensing and training requirements to restrict entry to its work?

    • Professional closure, in which an occupation controls entry through credentials and regulated routes of training
    • Proletarianisation, in which professional workers lose control over their work and become wage labourers under employers
    • Bureaucratic control, in which rules and hierarchy decide how workers carry out their daily tasks in the organisation
    • Occupational deskilling, in which tasks are simplified so that workers need less training to carry them out in practice

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