Lecture 18Outline of Last Lecture I. What Does It Mean To Be Sick?II. The Medical ProfessionIII. Discrepancies in HealthOutline of Current Lecture IV. MedicalizationV. HypothesisVI. ChildbirthVII.Health DisparitiesVIII. SociogenomicsIX. Science and SocietyCurrent LectureI. Medicalizationa. process by which nonmedical issues become defined as medical and come under control or medical professioni. childbirthii. consequences of medicalizing childbirthII. HypothesisSOC 100 1st Editiona. 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 statementsIII. Childbirtha. has been medicalized over the course of the 20th century i. Antiseptic and Aspectic Techniques 1. get clean before deliveryii. Forceps1. instrument that is smaller/narrower than handsthat gets inserted into birth canaliii. Dorsal Lithotomy Positioniv. Anaesthesia1. knocking a woman out during delivery or re-ducing painv. Caesarean Section1. increase of thisb. Which is responsible for infant mortality decline?i. nobody knowsii. one scientist thought it was antiseptic and asepticIV. Childbirtha. material mortality and infant mortality drop in 20th centuryi. obsetrics (medical science association with child-birth)ii. AND birth controliii. AND higher standards of livingiv. AND improved dietsv. AND developments in disease controlb. “overmedicalization”i. more technology accompanying childbirth even whenrisks are lowii. more technology makes childbirth more expensive iii. diminishing returnsV. Health Disparities a. What are they?i. well-established differences in American society in health outcomes based on socioeconomic statusb. Social determinants theoryi. social status can determine a person’s health1. psychosocial explanations a. marginalized communication2. materialist explanationsa. focus on resources and access to re-sources3. fundamental causes a. tries to understand social structurec. Fundamental Causesi. complex social mechanisms are responsible for ex-plaining differences in health outcomesii. identify different pattersns and processes that im-prove or diminish health iii. “Bad Sugar”1. native american land rights2. access to water3. effects on communities economy and farming practices4. nutritioniv. Sociogenomics1. Gene Robinson2. study of polish children born during the depres-siona. occurrence of diabetes3. Ruby Mendonhall’s study of women living in ur-ban communities beset by violencea. Genomic effects?VI. Science and Societyb. sociology of sciencei. how scientific communities study objects of their re-searchii. how science changes the way we live and act with one anotheriii. unexpected social consequences of scientific discov-eries VII. Scientific Communitiesb. labs as sites of knowledgei. location where data are collected and analyzedii. ethnography: watching scientists produce scienceiii. processes and practices in lab 1. scientific routines enhance reliability2. power and prestige in the labc. practices and processes in the labi. Matthew Effect (Merton, 1968)1. how prestige and rewards are earned in scien-tific communicationa. cumulative advancesb. well known scientists at higher ranked in-stitutions are more likely to be credited with scientific discoveries than lesser known colleaguesd. Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn)i. science is governed by pardigms1. framework within which scientists operatea. particular to brances of scienceb. material, theoretical, and empiricalii. normal science1. science conducted within existing paradigm2. Goal: adding to our existing knowledgee. Paradigm shiftsi. occur when evidence that challenges existing par-digm, showing that its inadequate to explain all ob-served phenomenaf. Scientific Revolutionsi. Example: earth revolving around the sunii. really rareg. Boundary Worki. to distinguish from other scientists and from the world at largeii. divisions between fields of knowledge get get cre-ated, advocated, attacked and reinforced1. social science: economics, psych, political sci-ence, antrhopology, psychology, sociologyiii. distinguishing between legitimate and non-legitmate science within a specific scientific discipline1. evolution vs intelligent