Homework answers / question archive / In Sickness and in Wealth  Movie Questions UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? from California Newsreel How does the U

In Sickness and in Wealth  Movie Questions UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? from California Newsreel How does the U

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In Sickness and in Wealth 

Movie Questions

UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? from California Newsreel

1. How does the U.S. have the highest GNP but rank 30^th in life expectancy? Why is access to health insurance an inadequate explanation for this gap?
   1. What is the connection between social status and health? How do individual behaviors fit into this connection?
2. What is "Excess Death?" Why do people in West End of Louisville die 3, 5, even 10 years sooner than others? Why do others like Jim Taylor in Council district 16 have higher life expectancies?
3. Marmot states that in the 1970s conventional wisdom was that business executives would have higher rates of heart attacks. Why was this assumed? What is the realty about heart disease and types of employment?
   1. Why do college graduates live two and a half years longer than high school graduates?
4. What role does homeownership play in perceptions of financial success? How does the story of Corey Anderson's mother exemplify this connection?
5. Troutman states that there is "almost a cultural demarcation in the city" How does city planning and policies (location of supermarkets, laws regulating fast food chains, segregation of housing income, etc) effect health?
   1. He states that the downtown business environment is alive, and across the street you have housing projects with very little business. What types of businesses exist in this area and why are they important? How do urban mobilities factor into the importance of city planning?
6. Using Mary Turner's story explain how social policy drives health.
   1. Describe Mary Turner's life in Council District 5? Why is life expectancy 9 years less than Jim Taylor's district?
7. What is the connection between control over one's own life, power, stress, and health/illness?
8. What is the difference between normal stress response and a chronic stress response?
   1. What happens to our bodies when we are in constant states of stress (elevated cortisol levels)? What can cause this chronic stress response?
9. How does the hierarchy of macaque monkeys impact their health?
   1. What does that tell us about control and chronic stress in humans and how stress is distributed within a hierarchy?
10. How does chronic stress effect our ability to fight off infectious diseases like the common cold?
11. How does Corey Anderson's high demand/low control job contribute to developing high blood pressure?
    1. How does it compare to Tondra Young's position or Jim Taylor's job? How can an "accumulation of resources" alleviate stress/high blood pressure?
12. How can a child's parent's owning a home be a good predictor of whether they will develop a cold when exposed to viruses as adults?
    1. What role does insecurity or instability play in the physical and psychological development of children and how does this impact their overall life cycle?
    2. Explain the notion of cumulative burden verses cumulative protection
13. Why has there been over 83,000 excess deaths per year in the African American community alone? What does this tell us about chronic stress at the intersections of race and ethnicity and social class?
14. How have social reforms improved health in our society over the last century? Why did wealth inequality start to soar starting in the 1980s? How can community initiatives help bridge the wealth and health gap experienced?
15. Using A Dream Foreclosed and this film, explain the wealth-health gradient and how it intersects with race, gender, or disability. Provide a specific example from the text that exemplifies the connection between identity markers (race/gender/disability), class, and health (3-5 sentences minimum).

Bonus Question (+2pts)

Should health and healthcare be considered a basic human right? Why or why not?