#91-103 for Final Exam: Health, Ability, and Health Care System Flashcards
Define the term sick role and social course of disease
Social course of disease - refers to the way in which health conditions unfold, not just through the body (the natural course), but also through social meanings, interactions, institutions, and power relations.
The sick role - Set of social expectations of how to act when we are sick; comes w/ four expectations:
-sick person should be excused from normal social responsibilities (entitled to certain rights and privileges)
-Should be taken care of instead of taken care of themselves (don’t hold them responsible for illness)
-Are socially obligated to try and get well (ex/ medications, rest)
-are socially obligated to seek technically competent help
Discuss how the processes of medicalization take place
The medicalization process started taking place with the rise of medical specialists/experts; and them extending their authority by defining new conditions that fall under their care. Pharmaceutical companies also contributed w/ their investment in research to develop medications, and work to identity or create “patient-populations” for them through advertising.
How does biomedicalization differ from medicalization?
biomedicalization, a technoscientific innovation driven transformation of medicine, focusing more on transforming illness/diseases and health, rather than the original medicalization, which had more of an aim to just control it
Explain the difference between impairment and disability
Impairment - loss or abnormality of a physical or mental function
Disability - restriction in ability to do an activity in a way that’s typically normal for a human being
(Impairment is an underlying medical condition, while disability is the functional limitation that results from the impairment)
Why do sociologists study medicine and illness? How are those concepts social?
because there’s a lot of social factors as well that contribute to health care and “being sick” than just biological; it’s deeply rooted in social structures, cultural meaning and power relations.
-Physicians, hospitals and insurance systems have massive power and influence over what is considered “health”, who gets access to care, and which treatments are deemed valid
-rates of illness, quality of care, and life expectancy all vary by different socioeconomic status, race/ethnic background, gender identity, and others
(ex/ ppl living in poverty, unsafe neighborhood environments, and have lack of basic needs would be more likely to fall ill or get injured)
What is the problem with the concept of a sick role developed by T. Parsons?
It didn’t take in account how it differs for ppl w/ diff socioeconomic status:
- what ppl think and do about their health depends a lot on their class
-ppl in higher occupational groups are better able afford playing the sick role
-Who can play the sick role more also depends on factors like gender, race, and age (ex/ society has diff expectation for fathers and mothers; fathers may be expected to take more obligation to better themselves, cuz society sees men as tougher)
How has the concept of the sick changed in light of neoliberalism and its individualistic orientation?
Neoliberalism, due to its focus on individuality, it sees patients as mainly responsible for their own illness and they are attributed to their own individual choices
-Patients are seen as “not to be trusted” because they could be abusing the system
-Could be increasing health care costs due to “too many unnecessary visits to family doctors”
Discuss how the course of the disease is affected by social factors.
Symptom experience - cultural norms could shape which sensations count as symptoms (mild anxiety could be seen as everyday stress to some, medical disorder to others)
-Decision to seek health care could be affected by socioeconomic status (poor communities have lesser access to health care)
-Labelling & diagnoses - could be affected by stigmas based on one’s race, gender, or sexuality
-Recovery - process could take longer depending on maybe someone’s living conditions, access to basic needs that could help facilitate faster recovery
How does a social course of disease differ from a biomedical course of disease? Explain the latter.
Biomedical course:
1. Stage of susceptibility
2. Exposure to pathogen
3. Stage of subclinical diseases (pathological changes occur here)
3a. symptoms intensify
3b. usual time of clinical diagnosis
4. Stage of clinical disease
5. Stage of recovery; disability or death
How do you understand the professionalization? How does it fit in the discussion of radical monopolies?
When a group of workers come to control a particular line of work, using the skills, training standards, and credentials they’ve obtained through education that got them an entry into the profession. it’s similar to the discussion of radical monopolies because it’s a situation in which these professionals gain so dominance over the health field, that alternative measures seem unimaginable. It shows when a product or concept satisfies a need so much that we can’t imagine life without it, shaping both our desires and ways of using said thing.
What is Big Pharma? Where does the acronym come from?
It’s a term for the world’s largest for-profit pharmaceutical companies, which research, develop, manufacture, and sell prescription drugs on a massive scale
-The acronym comes from this: “Big” = represents size, wealth, and influence of the companies; “Pharma” = short for pharmaceutical
Discuss the term of the racialization of disease and provide a current example of such racialization that you observed in Canada.
Racialization of disease refers to a process in which a health condition becomes inaccurately linked to a certain racial or ethnic group as if it is innately in them
ex/ During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of ppl were unfairly blaming the virus on Asian ppl, saying it was an “Asian-disease” because the source of it came from a native bat species eaten in China.
