Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Discussion 2 Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Food Justice/Food Deserts The purpose of this discussion is to offer you the opportunity to debate the issue of food justice and food deserts. Food deserts are significant issues in poorer neighborhoods in the United States. In many of these neighborhoods, the only access to food is through local convenience stores or fast food restaurants. This severely limits the options for the poor to have access to fresh, wholesome food and has been evidenced as a key reason for the obesity epidemic in the United States. This issue is encompassed in the overarching topic of food justice, which also highlights public access to genetically modified or organic foods and the issues of equal access to positive food options in light of public health and social inequality. Prepare and post a response to the following prompt: Read the Hilmers article, Neighborhood Disparities in Access to Healthy Foods and Their Effects on Environmental Justice. Assume that your town is a food desert and you would like to do something about it. Prepare an argument to present to your local town council that outlines an idea to offer healthy food options to your town. Use at least one ethical theory or perspective to support the moral or ethical reasoning for why this program should be implemented. Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required resources and/or other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7. Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread. Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Discussion 1 Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Equal Access to Health Care insertDiscussionPromptHere This discussion presents the opportunity for you to address the inequality of access to health care in the United States using moral and ethical reasoning. There is overwhelming evidence that social inequalities affect health outcomes. Many argue that lack of health care access due to poverty is a human rights concern in the United States that should be subject to public and social justice inquiry. As such, the Affordable Care Act was implemented to promote health equity. While there are some that have reported favorable outcomes with respect to health care access, others have reported unfavorable experiences. What is your perspective on the ethics of providing universal health care to all U.S. citizens,.

1. Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Discussion 2
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses.
Food Justice/Food Deserts
The purpose of this discussion is to offer you the opportunity to
debate the issue of food justice and food deserts. Food deserts
are significant issues in poorer neighborhoods in the United
States. In many of these neighborhoods, the only access to food
is through local convenience stores or fast food restaurants.
This severely limits the options for the poor to have access to
fresh, wholesome food and has been evidenced as a key reason
for the obesity epidemic in the United States. This issue is
encompassed in the overarching topic of food justice, which
also highlights public access to genetically modified or organic
foods and the issues of equal access to positive food options in
light of public health and social inequality. Prepare and post a
response to the following prompt:
Read the Hilmers article, Neighborhood Disparities in Access to
Healthy Foods and Their Effects on Environmental Justice.
Assume that your town is a food desert and you would like to do
something about it. Prepare an argument to present to your local
town council that outlines an idea to offer healthy food options
to your town. Use at least one ethical theory or perspective to
support the moral or ethical reasoning for why this program
should be implemented.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support
your claims with examples from the required resources and/or

2. other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references in
APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Respond
to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.
Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the
criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.
Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Discussion 1
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses.
Equal Access to Health Care
insertDiscussionPromptHere
This discussion presents the opportunity for you to address the
inequality of access to health care in the United States using
moral and ethical reasoning. There is overwhelming evidence
that social inequalities affect health outcomes. Many argue that
lack of health care access due to poverty is a human rights
concern in the United States that should be subject to public and
social justice inquiry. As such, the Affordable Care Act was
implemented to promote health equity. While there are some
that have reported favorable outcomes with respect to health
care access, others have reported unfavorable experiences.
What is your perspective on the ethics of providing universal
health care to all U.S. citizens, and how well do you think the
Affordable Care Act has addressed this cause? Prepare an
academically-informed post to address this question. In doing

3. so, consider both the ethical and moral reasons for supporting
the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and also a
possible shortfall or problem with this policy. You may talk
about your own experiences but must also use academic
research to support your arguments.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support
your claims with examples from the required resources and/or
other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references in
APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Respond
to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.
Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the
criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.
Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Instructor Guidance
Source: http://www.bcwomensfoundation.org/2013/03/19/
vancouver-foundation-supports-research-to-improve-access-
to-midwifery-care-in-british-columbia.php
SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility
Week 4 Guidance
Source: http://ifinditchicago.wordpress.com/tag/food-desert/
Weekly Activities
Here is what you will be doing this week:
· Read Chapter 5 in the text: Ethics in Medicine
· Post to Discussion Board 1 on Equal Access to Healthcare
(due by Day 3, Thursday)
· Post to Discussion Board 2 on Food Justice/Food Deserts (due

4. by Day 3, Thursday)
· Respond to two discussion posts by classmates in each
discussion (by Day 7, Monday)
· Weekly Quiz (due by Day 7, Monday)
Agency and Choice
All of us are born into a particular set of social
circumstances―an arrangement of institutions that fulfill
particular social functions, as well as hierarchies that rank
groups of people based on perceived status. As we grow, we
socialize with others and learn the ways of our society―the
rules, expectations of others, and the values that society
represents. Since each individual is born into particular
circumstances, it is easy to perceive that society is given to us,
that it exists outside of us and is something we must conform
ourselves to. Sociologists offer a different interpretation. To a
sociologist, society is something that we construct, something
that we create and build, through our interaction with others.
Although we may inherit a particular set of social rules that
dictate how we interact with others, we can always break these
rules in our interaction. Every time we choose to interact in
ways that adhere to the rules, we essentially are recognizing and
reinforcing the legitimacy of those rules. If we choose to break
the rules, we likely will suffer sanctions of some sort―those
with whom we interact will respond so we will know that we are
outside the rules. This is how society is perpetuated―through a
constant series of interactions that mostly uphold the structures
that make up society.
Sociologists use the term agency to describe our ability to make
choices within our social circumstances (Porter, 2012; Pursey,
Heugens, & Lander, 2009). As we have seen, social structures
exert control on us and shape our perceptions, but we also know
that we make many decisions and choices every day. Our own
personality, identity and worldview can be expressed by the
choices we make. Our personal ethics also play a role in our
choices and decisions.

5. Source: http://nhop.org/communityhealthpriorities/access-to-
care/
Agency, Social Reproduction and Ethics
If society is constantly being constructed and reproduced, ethics
and morals become important considerations. In constructing
society, we need to establish moral codes so that society can
function well (Cresswell & Karimova, 2010). Moral codes
establish the goals for a good society. How can people apply
moral codes? This is where ethics comes in; ethics provides
guidelines for what people should do in order to uphold moral
codes; how people should exercise their agency. Ethics allow
people to interact with others in ways that are functional, that
advance the social good rather than degrade it. Of course, ethics
do not ensure that the social good will be protected, ethics
merely offer the possibility that we can construct a good and
functioning society. How we apply the ethics to particular
circumstances will affect social outcomes. How we conceive of
ethics also will affect the society we construct. The text offers
different ethical theories, and uses case studies to illustrate how
applying one ethical framework leads to particular outcomes,
while applying a different ethical framework will lead to
different outcomes.
For example, chapter 5 examines various ethical dilemmas that
arise within the context of health care institutions. Doctors and
other health care professionals must make tough ethical
decisions every day (Mulligan, Shapiro, & Walrod, 1996). Many
of the decisions doctors are called on to make involve
evaluating serious risks, such as balancing the potential benefits
that a treatment might bring to a sick patient, against the
potential harm that the treatment might cause. Part of the
evaluation also includes the potential harm that might come
from doing nothing; if it is likely the patient will recover, and
the treatment involves some risks, the best decision might be to

6. do nothing. These are tough calls for doctors to make,
particularly when a patient is likely to die without treatment,
but the treatment may not stop the patient from dying. By
beginning the treatment, the doctor takes on some
responsibility, and risks a lawsuit or other sanction if the
treatment is unsuccessful.
As you read about the different issues in medical treatment and
research in Chapter 5, consider which aspects reflect social
structure and which reflect agency on the part of the medical
professionals. How much leeway do actors have to make choices
within the existing social structures? What are the risks they
take by the choices they make?
Here are some videos to support you in the discussion on access
to health care...
This one is actually just thrown in for fun,
but does highlight the issue of evidence vs. perception...

7. More videos to support the discussion on food justice and food
deserts...
References
Cresswell, M., & Karimova, Z. (2010). Self-harm and
medicine’s moral code: A historical perspective, 1950–2000.
Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 12(2), 158–175.
Mulligan, D., Shapiro, M., & Walrod, D. (1996). Managing risk
in healthcare. McKinsey Quarterly, 3, 94–105.
Porter, F. (2102). Negotiating gender equality in development
organizations: The role of agency in the institutionalization of
new norms and practices. Progress in Development Studies,
12(4), 301–314.
Pursey, P. M., Heugens, A. R., & Lander, M. W. (2009).
Structure! Agency! (And other quarrels): A meta-analysis of
institutional theories of organization. Academy of Management
Journal, 52(1), 61–85.