1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS What is the sociology ...

THE SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS
What is the sociology of health and illness?
• It is the study of the social, cultural, psychological and political factors which
contribute to the maintenance or loss of health and well being of individuals in society.
• Its goal is firstly, to understand and explain the occurrence of disease and illness and
secondly, to help us understand how disease and illness can be prevented and
alleviated or adapted to.
Why should social workers study this discipline?
• Doctors treat diseases but illness occurs in the social world.
• Social workers have clients who are sick.
• Social workers have a mediating role between medical/health professionals and their
client.
What Groups Of Patients Or Clients Do Social Workers Have?
• Children: cases of child abuse, signs of malnutrition or underdevelopment;
• People who need care because of a stroke, Alzheimer or depression;
• People with mental or physical impairment/ disability;
• People with psychiatric problems: psychosis, neuroses or addictions;
• People with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, multiple
sclerosis;
• People with Aids.
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The Biomedical & Social Models of Illness and Disease
Assumptions of Bio-medicine and a Sociological Critique:
1. Bio-medicine is based on a mind-body dualism - the mind and body can be treated
separately.
Critique:
• Humans are embodied – they are and have bodies.
• The whole person should be considered and cared for.
2. Bio-medicine is based on a mechanical model - doctors try to fix dysfunctional bodies and
solve medical problems with technologies such as drugs or machinery.
Critique
• This approach is reductionist as explanations of disease and its solutions are sought
within biological, physical and technological contexts.
• Social and psychological factors are neglected.
3. Bio-medicine is based on a “ doctrine of specific aetiology”- it presumes diseases are often
caused by a specific agent, such as a parasite, virus, bacterium or gene.
Critique:
• Health, disease and illness are not just related to biological and physical changes, but
are also influenced and shaped by the wider socio-economic order.
• Patterns of disease usually correspond to the distribution of power and resources
throughout society so understanding power relations and social inequalities are
important.
4. Medical knowledge is presumed to be objective and neutral It is based on rational empirical
evidence, and so it is distinct from the social context in which such knowledge is produced.
Critique:
• Medical knowledge can never be objective – like all scientific knowledge it is
produced in a specific context.
• Medical practitioners have to be taught how to “see” and “interpret” the body.
• What doctors learn from medical texts and from within the context of the teaching
hospital is only one of many ways in which the body might be “seen” or understood.
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