Sociology 18

1. What would be an argument in support of sin taxes on fast-food meals?Considering that fast-food meals are usually less expensive than healthier options and provide food quickly for underpaid and overworked Americans, how might sin taxes unintentionally reproduce class difference?

A good argument on the issue of taxing fast food is that it could help the health of our society. Most people tend to buy fast food because of time or just not wanting to cook and because most of the healthier food is more difficult to gain financially. Taxing this type of food may help in some way in reducing the high percentage of people who prefer junk food over healthier, however, not only people who do not have the ability financially to buy food buy food healthier fast, most people are poor or rich, at least once in their life bought fast food. So I think that on one hand the rise of fast food taxes may help, but may also have little effect. So, I think there is no argument that safe enough for this problem. besides, I think if implemented taxes on fast food are placed I think not much difference between social classes because most people can buy fast food without being too rich, I do not think there is a difference but it can be seen as people who often eat fast food very often buy more healthy food, because if taxes are raised on fast food may have almost the same price as the food healthier and that will think twice when people buy food choices.

2. How could the social construction of illness help us understand hypochondria?

The social construction of illness can help us to understand hypochondria by telling us what is this disease about and why it is developed. First, it may help us by telling us what are the causes of this disease and the main factors that influence in order to develop this kind of disease. Also it may help us by telling us if there is any social beliefs about this disease and how it may be seen by people. Then, social construction will help us to understand this disease by making experiments, polls, and surveys in order to develop a diagnose or create a treatment. This will also help us to understand how to live and deal with this kind of disease and to know the reactions and other kind of factors and effects to consider. Finally medical knowledge about illness and disease is given to us to understand it correctly to manage a severe disease like hypochondria. I believe that social construction of illness can help us in many ways to understand all kinds of diseases and Social constructionism also provides an important interpretation to medicine’s largely deterministic information about disease and illness, and it can help us to make the right decisions.