Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I What Does It Mean To Be Sick II The Medical Profession III Discrepancies in Health Outline of Current Lecture IV Medicalization V Hypothesis VI Childbirth VII Health Disparities VIII Sociogenomics IX Science and Society Current Lecture I Medicalization a process by which nonmedical issues become defined as medical and come under control or medical profession i childbirth ii consequences of medicalizing childbirth II Hypothesis SOC 100 1st Edition a medicalization has reduced infant and maternal mortality i conceptualization and operationalization 1 meaning of medicalization of childbirth ii correlation and causation 1 medicalization has caused infant and mater nal mortality to go down iii normative statements III Childbirth a has been medicalized over the course of the 20th century i Antiseptic and Aspectic Techniques 1 get clean before delivery ii Forceps 1 instrument that is smaller narrower than hands that gets inserted into birth canal iii Dorsal Lithotomy Position iv Anaesthesia 1 knocking a woman out during delivery or reducing pain v Caesarean Section 1 increase of this b Which is responsible for infant mortality decline i nobody knows ii one scientist thought it was antiseptic and aseptic IV Childbirth a material mortality and infant mortality drop in 20th century i obsetrics medical science association with child birth ii AND birth control iii AND higher standards of living iv AND improved diets v AND developments in disease control b overmedicalization i more technology accompanying childbirth even when risks are low ii more technology makes childbirth more expensive iii diminishing returns V Health Disparities a What are they i well established differences in American society in health outcomes based on socioeconomic status b Social determinants theory i social status can determine a person s health 1 psychosocial explanations a marginalized communication 2 materialist explanations a focus on resources and access to resources 3 fundamental causes a tries to understand social structure c Fundamental Causes i complex social mechanisms are responsible for explaining differences in health outcomes ii identify different pattersns and processes that improve or diminish health iii Bad Sugar 1 native american land rights 2 access to water 3 effects on communities economy and farming practices 4 nutrition iv Sociogenomics 1 Gene Robinson 2 study of polish children born during the depression a occurrence of diabetes 3 Ruby Mendonhall s study of women living in ur ban communities beset by violence a Genomic effects VI Science and Society b sociology of science i how scientific communities study objects of their research ii how science changes the way we live and act with one another iii unexpected social consequences of scientific discoveries VII Scientific Communities b labs as sites of knowledge i location where data are collected and analyzed ii ethnography watching scientists produce science iii processes and practices in lab 1 scientific routines enhance reliability 2 power and prestige in the lab c practices and processes in the lab i Matthew Effect Merton 1968 1 how prestige and rewards are earned in scientific communication a cumulative advances b well known scientists at higher ranked institutions are more likely to be credited with scientific discoveries than lesser known colleagues d Structure of Scientific Revolutions Kuhn i science is governed by pardigms 1 framework within which scientists operate a particular to brances of science b material theoretical and empirical ii normal science 1 science conducted within existing paradigm 2 Goal adding to our existing knowledge e Paradigm shifts i occur when evidence that challenges existing pardigm showing that its inadequate to explain all observed phenomena f Scientific Revolutions i Example earth revolving around the sun ii really rare g Boundary Work i to distinguish from other scientists and from the world at large ii divisions between fields of knowledge get get cre ated advocated attacked and reinforced 1 social science economics psych political science antrhopology psychology sociology iii distinguishing between legitimate and non legitmate science within a specific scientific discipline 1 evolution vs intelligent design