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WalesSociologyQuick questions
Power and Stratification
Quick questions on Health and disability (Component 3, Section B) - WJEC A-Level Sociology
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the power of the medical profession?Show answer
The medical profession holds considerable power: it defines what counts as illness, controls the sick role, and acts as a gatekeeper to treatment and resources. Sociologists discuss the medicalisation of more areas of life (bringing them under medical control). Perspectives differ on whether this power serves patients, society or the profession itself.
What is disability as social oppression?Show answer
The medical model treats a disabled person's difficulties as caused by their impairment, so the solution is to treat or cure the individual. The social model turns this around: a wheelchair user is "disabled" not by their body but by buildings without ramps, by transport that excludes them and by discriminatory attitudes. On this view, disability is produced by society, and the remedy is to remove barriers and discrimination.
What is q1?Show answer
What is meant by the social model of disability? [4 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain the materialist explanation of class inequalities in health. [6 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Evaluate the view that the medical profession has too much power. [16 marks]
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