Lauren Hedrick November 21 2013 Health and Medicine Medicine o Medical Society The largest specialty area within sociology Social factors in the delivery of health care Social class gender and racial ethnic differences in health and health care Linkage between social factors and health Patients and health care providers Changing nature of the medical profession o Health State of complete physical mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity World Health Organization o Disease Condition in which an organism does not function properly because of biological causes o Medicine Institution providing an enduring set of cultural patterns and social relationships responsible for problems of health and disease o Theoretical Perspectives Provides set of assumptions interrelated concepts and statements about how various social phenomena relate to one another Functionalism The Functionalist Perspective o Society is a system a set of elements or components that relate to one another in a more or less stable fashion through a period of time o To survive essential functions must be performed by the system s parts o Pay attention to functions performed by system s parts especially organizations groups institutions and cultural elements Functionalism on Health and Medicine o Health is essential to survive o Medicine evolved to Treat and cure disease Prevent disease through programs Undertake research into health problems Become agent of social control by labeling behavior Parsons Medicine Believed that good health and health care services are important and necessary components of the social system o When we look at the health of the general population ex flu cold injury mortality Lauren Hedrick November 21 2013 We have a functional interests in controlling or minimizing illness in our society Illness incapacitates out ability to effectively perform social roles in society ex work parent student volunteer Parsons The Sick Role Set of cultural expectations that define what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviors o Exempt from usual social roles and responsibilities o Not to be at fault for own conditions o The duty to get well o Cooperation with medical practitioners Parsons Medical Practice The mechanism in the social system for coping dealing with the illness o Involves institutionalized roles ex doctor patient relationship Sick Role submissive cooperative helpless exempted from responsibility Doctor Physician Role expertise knowledge trustworthy technically competent patient driven not driven by profit caring sensitive Critique of Parsons Work o Inability to deal with Chronic Conditions o Characterizes sick people as robots o Since the 1970 s there has been a dramatic decline in confidence trust in physicians Symbolic Interaction The biggest conflict critique or contradiction of Parson s work Emphasizes personal symbolic interaction based on shared meanings Micro dimension of social life o Symbol is something that stands for something else called meaning o Meanings emerge from social interaction o Shared cultural meanings continually emerge and change Medicine o Sickness is a condition with socially devised o Meanings change with time and non medical meanings attached motivations Lauren Hedrick November 21 2013 Conflict Theory o Medicalization of deviance Behaviors that earlier generations defined as immoral or sinful become seen as forms of sickness Ex sex addiction Emphasizes disorder instability interests that divide and social change o Social unity an illusion resting on coercion o Main source of conflict is resource scarcity o Power determines who gains and who loses o Cross cutting conflicts provide stability Some people achieve better health than others because they have access to resources that contribute to good health and recovery From a Global Perspective o The U S has about 27 times the number of physicians per 1 000 people than most African and Asian countries have This is worsened by Brain Drain The immigration to the United States and other industrialized countries of skilled workers professionals and technicians from developing countries There are glaring inequalities that exist in health and health care delivery in the U S o Poor and rural areas tend to be underserved because medical services concentrate where people are numerous and or wealthy o Social class measured by income wealth home ownership poverty status education level occupational status occupational prestige and residential context Social Class and Health Lower classes have higher rates of mortality and disability than others o Appear to be cumulative over life course o Less able to afford quality medical care and less likely to have health insurance o Less likely to keep a healthy diet and life style o More likely to live in residential environments with toxins and poor living conditions o Example Lung cancer is one of the few physical ailments that is not associated with having low income but that will probably change Over the past 20 years smoking rates have remained Lauren Hedrick November 21 2013 steady for less educated men and women but have fallen steadily among the better educated o Where You Live Can Actually Kill You Children play in the shadow of petroleum storage tanks Health hazards of this sort can be addressed through public policies and regulations as they have been drinking water but improvements in individual medical care alone can do little to narrow this type of health gap Health Care in the United States o United States is a world leader in medical research medical technology surgeries and a host of other procedures o People from all around the world come to the U S for surgeries and o United States spends more money on health care than any other medical assistance country in the world o The Disease Cure System Functionalism argues that a health care system should Treat and cure disease Prevent disease through programs Undertake research into health problems Become agent of social control by labeling behavior Disease Cure System Expectation of cure in the U S generated explosion of invasive expensive and risky medical interventions Composed of three parts o Hospitals o Physicians o Nurses o Health Care Spending The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world almost double Forces that push up costs Adoption of new expensive and unproven technologies Rules that govern marketplace exchanges not applied U S population getting