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Unit 10 sociological perspectives:
P1: Explain how sociological perspectives are applied to the understanding of health and social care?
Introduction:
Sociology can be defined as a study of the social patterning of health. Some examples of social factors can be race, religion, gender, region, disability. Which includes Socialization, socialization is the process through which people of society develop awareness of social norms and values to help them achieve an identity for themselves. This is known as primary socialization because it usually happens in early years and secondary socialization, continues throughout life.
Interactionism:
The interactionist approach suggests that health and illness are social constructions. This conveys that many physical and mental conditions have no objective reality but instead are considered healthy or ill conditions. The interactionist approach has provided us with significant studies that proves the interaction between patient and health care professionals. A strength of this approach is that it sees humans are active, and as creative participants who can construct their own social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization. However, a weakness can be that overestimates the power of individuals to create their own realities, ignoring the extent to which humans inhabit a world not of their own making. An example of interactionist theory would be that the word ‘dog’ does not have any meaning in and of itself. However, everyone understands what ‘cat’ means through our social interactions with others and with real life cats.
Types of social action:
Instrumental rational action means whatever it takes to achieve a goal as long as it our desirable objective. For example,
Value rational action is an action towards a goal that is desirable for its own profit. An example of value rational action would be that many individuals who are looking in professions such as doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants or even nursery manger are assumed to choose any goal and accomplish it.
Traditional action is a routine action that is done without a though or choice. An example of traditional rational action would be putting on dresses on Monday.
Affection action is an action that reveals emotion. Weber stated that affection action is important in religion and politics movements with influential leaders who draw attention to followers based on emotional appeal. An example would be crying with grief.
Conflict:
Conflict theories are theories that see society as being made up of two or more groups with compatible and incompatible interests. The two main theories that we study in sociology are Marxism and feminism which see society divided by social class and gender, respectively.
Marxist:
Marxist feminism theory is made by Karl Marx which is a political and economic theory where society has no class. Marxist studies medical care believes that political power and economic dominance in capitalist society. He argues that the problem is not about accessing the healthcare services but
states that the main goal of medicine is not health but profit. This implies that he thinks that healthcare services are open to everyone but the doctors and nurses there are only helping people to make a profit out of them.
There are two feminisms called:
liberal feminism is defined as a focus on achieving gender equality through politics. liberal feminism believes that the major causes of gender equality are ignorance and socialisation. This is because they do not believe that social foundations are patriarchal. This indicates that people are gradually becoming more equal over time. As a result, it shows that girls are outperforming boys in education, this means that there are now equal amounts of people in paid work. As evidence this shows that men are doing more domestic work such as housework and childcare in the household than women. people can make decisions between them; this shows that they are becoming more equal.
Radical feminists see society as patriarchal because everything is dominated by men and in the social class, men are the ruling class and women are the subject class. Radical feminists argue that women have been given a dual burden of paid work, and unpaid housework and the men benefit from women's paid earnings. This suggests that many radical feminists argue that women endure a triple shift of paid work, domestic labour, and emotional work. Research shows that BCSDV (British crime survey domestic violence) states that 1 in 4 all women experience DV in their life. An advantage could be that this theory studies power and conflict in society. This shows how there is an uneven number of power and status (wealth) between social classes.
Functionalism:
Functionalism theory is made by five theorist called August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, Davis and Moore and Robert Merton. They stated that functionalism is a theory that views society as a complex but orderly and stable system with interconnected structures and functions or social pattern that operate to meet the needs of individuals in society. An example of functionalism would be ageing. As people age, they eventually withdraw themselves from society and are relieved from all their responsibilities which is providing an orderly transition between generations. An advantage would be that the functionalism approach suggests how social institution can work at two diverse levels, both fulling the needs of every individual and meeting the needs of everyone in the society. Another advantage can be that family is seen as key point in passing on the shared norms and values which are common in society. A weakness of this approach can be that the theorist does not consider functions to be performed by other institutions such as education system, then the family. Fletcher disagrees that Parsons was false to imply that the family had lost its values soon as industrialisation started.
Postmodernism:
Postmodernism is a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In other words, postmodernism is a movement that emphasises on the truth of an individual and refuses statements that are true to other people. Jacques Derrida stated that many people believe to hold a holistic approach towards health and that believe that every individual’s responsibility is to achieve health, reject any medical authority towards them and prefer natural products such as herbs over prescribed drugs. An advantage of this approach can be that it challenges many assumptions everyone makes as a society. This makes every sociologist’s research differently. A weakness can be that it is difficult to argue about postmodernism because it is a fragmented movement which shows that is not presented as part of a method. Another weakness
have been given a dual burden of paid work, and unpaid housework and the men benefit from women's paid earnings. this suggests that many radical feminists argue that women endure a triple shift of paid work, domestic labour, and emotional work. research shows that BCSDV (British crime survey domestic violence) states that 1 in 4 all women experience DV in their life. An advantage could be that this theory studies power and conflict in society. This shows how there is an uneven number of power and status (wealth) between social classes. Marxist believes stress is affecting the nature of capitalism and this shows how economic factors force people to act in a certain way. A weakness could be that Marxist neglects different ideas that could shape behaviour. For example, class conflict, other issues affecting behaviours based on gender, race and individuals that have disabilities. Another disadvantage can be that Marxists tends to show that individual’s behaviour is controlled by external forces. Whereas other theorists would argue that individuals maintain free will which enables them to decide whether they will commit a crime or not. Feminists believe that people should have equal rights and opportunities. This is because whether its men getting paid more than women, this indicates that people should be given the same pay wage.
Functionalism:
Functionalism theory is made by five theorist called August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, Davis and Moore and Robert Merton. They stated that functionalism is a theory that views society as a complex but orderly and stable system with interconnected structures and functions or social pattern that operate to meet the needs of individuals in society. An example of functionalism would be ageing. The functionalism approach suggests how social institution can work at two distinct levels, both fulling the needs of every individual and meeting the needs of everyone in the society. The five theorists examine society based on all the aspects that make a society which includes institutions, roles, and norms. This can help on how to keep the society stable.
Postmodernism:
Postmodernism is a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In other words, postmodernism is a movement that emphasises on the truth of an individual and refuses statements that are true to other people. In a post-modern society, people are crowded with unreliability and lack of identity. Postmodern affects society because it views on lifestyles which could affect an individual’s performance of roles and their interactions with others. For example, a strong attachment to family and home can affect his/Her's lifestyle choices depending on their circumstance.
P3: Compare the biomedical model of health with an alternative model of health
Introduction:
Health is a condition evolving from a body’s persistent accommodation to stress and changes in the environment. Health can mean several different things to different people for example, those who are influenced by age, gender, culture, and social class.
The Biomedical Model:
This model focuses on health purely in terms of biological factors. It is also built on the perception that a state of health is defined purely on the absence of illness. This is because they believe that biological reasons are the cause of the illness and it help them produce a treatment for them. A strength of this approach can be that the biomedical model shows that health can be re-established by many techniques such as treatment, drugs (prescribed medicines) and surgery. Another strength can be that research have helped many healthcare professionals to produce treatments. Another
advantage can be that the biomedical model of health extends life expectancy, this is suggesting that causes of deaths in past can help healthcare professionals to treat and cure the same disease or illness that occurred in the past, to help the patients in the present time to recover effectively.
A criticism of the biomedical model of health is that sociologists believe that this approach to health and illness pays insufficient regard to the environmental and social factors that may lead to ill-health. For example, if a doctor were to diagnose a disease or illness, some doctors first ask about the history of patient whether they had psychological disorders or been prescribed medications for other diseases. The causes of the illness may be varied but the model focuses on the individual while ignoring the environmental factors that may have caused the disease or illness. Another criticism can be that illness is a condition of the entire person and treating the person might cure some symptoms but without solving the actual cause. Another criticism can be that Coward who is a theorist, stated that health problems are caused by individuals, and it ignores social factors that could potentially cause an illness. The implications for professionals and individuals who have care and support needs believe that healthcare and social care professionals use the biomedical model often referred to as a negative model of health, adopt a view that a person can for even should be regarded as healthy even if they do not have the symptoms of an illness or disease. By focusing only on the symptoms of the illness, it ignores the importance of feeling fit, energised, happy and optimistic as an aspect of good health.
The Social model of health and illness:
This model focuses on the idea that social factors can also contribute to wealth and well-being in the society. It focuses on the environmental factors that influence health and well-being such as the impact of poverty, poor sanitation, and housing as well as poor diet and nutrition. This can show that stress and low self-esteem could have a negative impact on health.
There are five key types of the social model of health:
- label the broader determinants of health
- Acts to reduce social inequalities
- empowers individuals and societies
- Acts to enable access to health and social care provisions
- involves intersectional collaboration
A strength of this approach can be that this model empowers individuals to live healthy lifestyles. this shows that individuals can empower other individuals through social interactions with each other and they will be able to have healthy lifestyles away from bad influences, for example, social/peer’s groups that might influence individuals to drink alcohol and smoke, rob money or clothes from shops and do dangerous things. Another strength can be that the social model of health helps us understand the barriers that make life difficult for disabled people. By removing these barriers, we will be able to create equality and offer disabled people more independence and freedom in their choices and control in their life. For example, if they do not want the treatment for their condition which is surgery, they have the right to refuse. Another example can be that if disabled people want to get back their jobs, their co-workers should respect their decisions and help them.
A criticism can be that the social model of health does not have a method to arrange health problems because they are unable to explain the illness because there is no signs and symptoms to make a diagnosis. Another criticism can be that the model fails to show accurately it shows during
The Negative definition of health is described as the absence of physical illness and mental distress. For example, no distress, mental stress, and discomfort. This type of health might be influenced by modern biomedicine.
Holistic defines health as a way of looking at individuals’ health and considering lifestyles factors such as physical, social, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual health that affect s person’s health. In the Hsc sectors, healthcare professionals have always approved the holistic approach to care and supporting individuals.
Sociologists have arranged human disorders as:
Disease Illness Disability Disease: Disease is an illness discovered by signs and symptoms. For example, a rare genetic disease, heart disease and infectious disease. Disease also means a biological or mental condition therefore involving medically diagnosed symptoms.
Illness: Illness is the poor state of health in our mind and body. In other words, illness is a condition that affects the body from working normally, an infectious disease or sickness. Disability:
Disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements or activities. For example, not able to run, plays sports.
Medicalisation: Medicalisation is known as 'limits to medicine' and it was founded in 1976s by Ivan Illich, he suggested that medicalisation is the process of gaining non-medical problems and turning them into mental illnesses. He examined views that activities and conditions may have been seen as a social problem or just a normal part of life. This suggests that this issue came to be seen as a medical problem even though there was a shred of strong evidence indicating others. The Sick Role: the sick role theory is a sick person is excused from carrying out all normal social duties. for example, going to work or taking care of a family member. In the functionalist approach, Parson showed how societies are to function efficiently, but they need their members to be healthy. He expressed illness as a form of deviance and members who are ill as performing a social role known as 'the sick role. He also stated that if people proclaim themselves ill, they need rights and responsibilities that come with the new role. Parson viewed this as a main function of the family who cared for the sick and other family members in the household. The responsibilities linked to this approach are involved to let the individual take steps which will improve their normal social role in society. the Clinical Iceberg:
the definition of the clinical iceberg is used to outline enormous amounts of illnesses that have not been reported. For example, medical statistics are based on information that is provided by doctors and other health and care services. This data could be unreliable, and it may underestimate the levels of illness and stress because, for a group of social, personal, and economic reasons, people will not seek help from healthcare professionals when they are sick.
The Marxist approach to health and ill-health:
Marxist states that the definition of health and ill-health is set by the ruling class known as the bourgeoisie. This is because he believes that doctors only serve this one purpose of being the bourgeoise as doctors are the gatekeepers and they work together with the bourgeoisie. They leave the choice to you whether you are healthy or unhealthy to work. Healthcare professionals can help individuals go back to work as quickly as possible. The government does not spend enough money to handle ill-health e.g., if. poverty, poor housing, and unemployment. Marxist states that ill health and health are viewed due to a social class issue which is then linked to inequality. This means that if people have a good living, they have no ill health but if people have a poor standard of living, they are most likely to have ill health.
The interactionalist approach to ill health and health:
the interactionist approach to health and ill health occurs what happens in the individual's life. this means that it focuses on the individual's physical well-being and issues of health and illnesses that may affect the individual. Most healthcare professionals are worried about how individuals who are sick do not view themselves to be ill. For example, someone who has heart disease might go for a run for a marathon event whereas the other individual might just want to be hospitalised. Interactionists are worried about the effect of labelling someone as ill, this means it will affect the individual's self-image, self-esteem as well as social interactions with others. interactionists believe that having social relationships has as much influence as a medical diagnosis because this will help individuals state whether they are ill. Interactionists assume that healthcare professionals and patients should arrange whether they should sign off from work. For example, the government is trying to help individuals with disabilities to be back on track at work. within the health and social care sector, the benefits system is arranged by giving money to people who have disabilities or are unfit to work.
The Feminist approach to health and ill-health:
The feminist approach is based on how males are dominating the medical profession. this indicates an unfortunate impact on individuals who may be pregnant or children that have just been born. Feminists assume that the exploitation of women by the patriarchal society, has provided evidence that women suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress more than men. all these complications are treated as medical issues rather than natural causes.
The postmodernist approach to health and ill-health:
Postmodernists believe that individuals need to think of more ways to gain access to healthcare provisions and explore other non-medicine options, for example, complementary medicine is about using natural things like herbs instead of prescribed drugs. Postmodernists believe that people should have views on health and ill health e.g., ''does this medicine work?'', they should also have challenging views such as ''is alcohol bad for the baby?''.
M1: Analyse the contribution of sociological perspectives to the understanding of health and social care and society:
changed it will open more opportunities for women to show what they are capable of and show that they are equal to the opposite sex. Liberal feminists pursue equal opportunity within the system and request equal employment for women within health care.
Radical feminists believe that patriarchy is still around in modern society. Radical feminists stated that patriarchy lies in women's capability to produce and care for children, this means that women are dependent on males. They see patriarchy as a form of social inequality and conflict. This implies that the important division in society is between men and women and that men are women's first enemy. Therefore, they see men oppressing women and that they are gaining benefits from the patriarchy, mostly from women's unresolved domestic labour from sexual services. Radical feminists reject the structure because of the oppression of women, and they would rather seek alternatives solution to fill their needs. They have seen the division between men and women in society and patriarchy. Radical feminists have stated that they have made self-help groups and women's only clinics to expand the base of healthcare which is managed by women.
The Interactionalist approach:
Interactionism is a social action theory, that suggests how our actions affect society. It is a study to show how individuals interact within society. For example, at school, they would be more worried about how students and teachers interact with each other than the role of education in society. Interactionism states that individuals learn about society by interacting with other people. Interactionism helps us understand society through the study of how individuals’ behaviour in society and believes that it is produced through the interaction of individuals. Interactionists stated that gender stratification exists because certain people behave a certain way towards others. Interactionism theory suggests that society has addressed subjective meaning based on how people impose on objects or even their behaviours. Subjective meanings are given priority because it is believed that people behave in a certain way due to what they believe and what is objectively true in their beliefs. Interactionists believe that an individual's personality is formed within society through interaction with other people. The Interactionist approach suggests that health and illness are social constructions; physical and mental conditions have a small reality but are instead observed as healthy or ill conditions.
The Postmodernist approach:
Postmodernism is a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In other words, postmodernism is a movement that emphasises the truth of an individual and refuses statements that are true to other people. In a post-modern society, people are crowded with unreliability and lack of identity. Postmodernism affects society because it views lifestyles which could affect an individual’s performance of roles and their interactions with others. For example, a strong attachment to family and home can affect his/her lifestyle choices depending on their circumstance. Postmodernists believe that individuals need to think of more ways to gain access to healthcare provisions and explore other non-medicine options, for example, complementary medicine is about using natural things like herbs instead of prescribed drugs. Postmodernists believe that people should have views on health and ill health e.g., ''does this medicine work?'', they should also have challenging views such as ''is alcohol bad for the baby?''.
M2: Analyse how the biomedical and an alternative model of health, and concepts of health, ill-health and disability affect service provision in a local health and social care setting?
The Biomedical Model:
This model focuses on health purely in terms of biological factors. It is also built on the perception that a state of health is defined purely by the absence of illness. This is because they believe that biological reasons are the cause of the illness, and it helps them produce a treatment for them.
A strength of this approach can be that the biomedical model shows that health can be re- established by many techniques such as treatment, drugs (prescribed medicines) and surgery. Another strength can be that research has helped many healthcare professionals to produce treatments. Another advantage can be that the biomedical model of health extends life expectancy, this is suggesting that causes of deaths in past can help healthcare professionals to treat and cure the same disease or illness that occurred in the past, to help the patients in the present time to recover effectively.
A criticism of the biomedical model of health is that sociologists believe that this approach to health and illness pays insufficient regard to the environmental and social factors that may lead to ill health. For example, if a doctor were to diagnose a disease or illness, some doctors first ask about the history of the patient whether they had psychological disorders or been prescribed medications for other diseases. The causes of the illness may be varied but the model focuses on the individual while ignoring the environmental factors that may have caused the disease or illness. Another criticism can be that illness is a condition of the entire person and treating the person might cure some symptoms but without solving the actual cause. Another criticism can be that Coward who is a theorist, stated that health problems are caused by individuals, and it ignores social factors that could potentially cause an illness. The implications for professionals and individuals who have care and support needs believe that healthcare and social care professionals use the biomedical model often referred to as a negative model of health, to adopt a view that a person can even be regarded as healthy even if they do not have the symptoms of an illness or disease. By focusing only on the symptoms of the illness, it ignores the importance of feeling fit, energised, happy and optimistic as an aspect of good health.
The Social Model of Disability:
The social model of disability is an alternative to the medical model of disability. This model of disability suggests that individuals who are disabled is a result of impairments or conditions that they have. The Social model of disability states disability is a process that is created by society. This is because disabled people face obstacles that stop them from engaging with others who do not have disabilities in society. This also means that people do not have disabilities but have impairment.
Some examples of physical obstacles include:
there may be a sign in the hospital for different departments and someone with visual impairments would not be able to read it.
There might be an unapproachable building without a ramp wheelchair.
The social model of disability helps us acknowledge obstacles that make life difficult for Disabled people. These obstacles are recognised as being physical environment, people’s attitudes, the way everyone interacts with others and how society differentiate against those who are treated differently. If we remove these barriers, we can create equality and offer disabled people more independence and freedom to their choices.
individuals with disabilities to expand the understandings of what disability is through the non- medical way.
The Feminist approach to health and ill-health and Disability:
The feminist approach is based on how males are dominating the medical profession. this indicates an unfortunate impact on individuals who may be pregnant or children that have just been born. Feminists assume that the exploitation of women by the patriarchal society, has provided evidence that women suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress more than men. all these complications are treated as medical issues rather than natural causes.
D1: Evaluate the role of sociological perspectives in the understanding of society and models and concepts of health in relation to service provision in a local health and social care setting:
Introduction:
Sociology can be defined as a study of the social patterning of health. Some examples of social factors can be race, religion, gender, region, disability. Which includes Socialization, socialization is the process through which people of society develop awareness of social norms and values to help them achieve an identity for themselves. This is known as primary socialization because it usually happens in early years and secondary socialization, continues throughout life.
Interactionism:
The interactionist approach suggests that health and illness are social constructions. This conveys that many physical and mental conditions have no objective reality but instead are considered healthy or ill conditions. The interactionist approach has provided us with significant studies that proves the interaction between patient and health care professionals. A strength of this approach is that it sees humans are active, and as creative participants who can construct their own social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization. However, a weakness can be that overestimates the power of individuals to create their own realities, ignoring the extent to which humans inhabit a world not of their own making. An example of interactionist theory would be that the word ‘dog’ does not have any meaning in and of itself. However, everyone understands what ‘cat’ means through our social interactions with others and with real life cats.
Types of social action:
Instrumental rational action means whatever it takes to achieve a goal as long as it our desirable objective. For example,
Value rational action is an action towards a goal that is desirable for its own profit. An example of value rational action would be that many individuals who are looking in professions such as doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants or even nursery manger are assumed to choose any goal and accomplish it.
Traditional action is a routine action that is done without a though or choice. An example of traditional rational action would be putting on dresses on Monday.
Affection action is an action that reveals emotion. Weber stated that affection action is important in religion and politics movements with influential leaders who draw attention to followers based on emotional appeal. An example would be crying with grief.
Conflict:
Conflict theories are theories that see society as being made up of two or more groups with compatible and incompatible interests. The two main theories that we study in sociology are Marxism and feminism which see society divided by social class and gender, respectively.
Marxist:
Marxist feminism theory is made by Karl Marx which is a political and economic theory where society has no class. Marxist studies medical care believes that political power and economic dominance in capitalist society. He argues that the problem is not about accessing the healthcare services but states that the main goal of medicine is not health but profit. This implies that he thinks that healthcare services are open to everyone but the doctors and nurses there are only helping people to make a profit out of them.
There are two feminisms called:
liberal feminism is defined as a focus on achieving gender equality through politics. liberal feminism believes that the major causes of gender equality are ignorance and socialisation. This is because they do not believe that social foundations are patriarchal. This indicates that people are gradually becoming more equal over time. As a result, it shows that girls are outperforming boys in education, this means that there are now equal amounts of people in paid work. As evidence this shows that men are doing more domestic work such as housework and childcare in the household than women. people can make decisions between them; this shows that they are becoming more equal.
Radical feminists see society as patriarchal because everything is dominated by men and in the social class, men are the ruling class and women are the subject class. Radical feminists argue that women have been given a dual burden of paid work, and unpaid housework and the men benefit from women's paid earnings. This suggests that many radical feminists argue that women endure a triple shift of paid work, domestic labour, and emotional work. Research shows that BCSDV (British crime survey domestic violence) states that 1 in 4 all women experience DV in their life. An advantage could be that this theory studies power and conflict in society. This shows how there is an uneven number of power and status (wealth) between social classes.
Functionalism:
Functionalism theory is made by five theorist called August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, Davis and Moore and Robert Merton. They stated that functionalism is a theory that views society as a complex but orderly and stable system with interconnected structures and functions or social pattern that operate to meet the needs of individuals in society. An example of functionalism would be ageing. As people age, they eventually withdraw themselves from society and are relieved from all their responsibilities which is providing an orderly transition between generations. An advantage would be that the functionalism approach suggests how social institution can work at two diverse levels, both fulling the needs of every individual and meeting the needs of everyone in the society. Another advantage can be that family is seen as key point in passing on the shared norms and values which are common in society. A weakness of this approach can be that the theorist does not consider functions to be performed by other institutions such as education system, then the family. Fletcher disagrees that Parsons was false to imply that the family had lost its values soon as industrialisation started.
Postmodernism:
Postmodernism is a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In other words, postmodernism is a movement that emphasises on the truth of an individual
