Uninsured Americans By Family Income

Will Riley — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:58:26 +0000

In the news media, you hear a lot of talk about whether or not the Democrats will be able to carry out health care reform, and whether the Republicans will be able to stop them, but very little coverage describes any specific problem of the U.S. healthcare system in detail. Almost no one talks about how the relationship between socio-economic class and health insurance coverage. So I spent several hours compiling public data from the U.S. Census Bureau into a spreadsheet. In particular, I gathered 2006, 2007, and 2008 data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. From this data, I created the following visualization of how health insurance coverage is directly related to family income:

The Y-axis represents the percentage of people within a family income level that lack insurance. For example, in 2008, 46.30% of Americans with no family income had no health insurance. It looks like the more money you have, the more likely you will be insured, and the less money you have, the less likely you will be insured. So rich men, women, and children are more likely to have health insurance than poor men, women, and children. Is this distribution of health coverage fair? Do poor men, women, or children need or deserve less health care coverage than their richer counterparts?

Females Are Granted More Degrees In Sociology Than Males

Will Riley — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:11:45 +0000

Using data from the National Science Foundation, I created some simple curvilinear graphs to examine the male to female ratios of sociology degrees. During the early 1990s, females started earning more doctorates in sociology than males. Why? Did males stop pursuing PhDs in sociology in favor of other academic disciplines? Or was there an influx of female graduate students from the undergraduate ranks?

During the early 1990's females started to receive more doctorates in sociology than males.

In 1980, females started earning more Master's degrees in sociology than males.

At least since 1966, females have been earning more Bachelor's degrees in sociology than males.

Between 1975 and 1985, there was a precipitous drop in the number of Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology. The decline began with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and the beginning of the Second Cold War. The decline ended around 1985, the same year that Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power.

Did sociology’s decline have anything to do with the end of the Vietnam War? Were people relieved and less interested in fighting the war machine? Did the sociology’s prior popularity rely on the transgressions of the Vietnam War?

Did sociology’s rebound in 1985 have have anything to do with the professionalization of the female workforce during the 1980s? Did the climb in Master’s degrees correspond with females trying to enter professions that draw on sociological study, like social work?

As of 2006, females earn more college degrees in sociology than males:

Doctorate (62% female)
Masters (68% female)
Bachelors (70% female)

Will Riley » Sociology

Uninsured Americans By Family Income

Females Are Granted More Degrees In Sociology Than Males