Exam 2 Flashcards
Medical Model of Illness
what doctors typically mean when they say something is an illness.
1)illness is an objective label
2) Illness is nonmoral
3) illness is an apolitical label
4) each illness is caused by unique biological problem. (can be fix with meds)
EX: Female sexual dysfunction is biological disease, due to lack of sexual responsiveness, label FDS as illness and people who have it as neutral bio statements that don’t reflect the person, FDS 1st identified by docs, FDS is treated with drug
Sociological Model of Illness
used by critical sociologist & others who are interested in how social forces affect health & health care
1)illness is a subjective category
2)illness is a moral category
3)illness is a political label
4)illness results from a combination of social and biological causes.
EX: FSD is a label given to women who are distressed by lack of sexual responsiveness, we label it as an illness because we find it disturbing, FSD was promoted by pharma comp. to sell drugs, women’s sexual problems often reflect psychological & interpersonal as well as bio problems
Social Norms
An ill person is one whose actions, abilities, or appearance don’t meet
EX:
Moral Status
a social condition that we believe indicates the goodness or badness, worthiness, or unworthiness of a person
EX: Virginity or laziness
Deviance
behaviors or conditions that a socially powerful person within a given culture perceives to be immoral or violate social norms.
EX: robbery, theft, rape, murder, assult
Negative social sanctions
any punishment from ridicule to execution
EX: getting a traffic ticket for speeding.
Positive social sanctions
rewards that range from token gifts.
EX: financial bonuses
Magic Bullets
refer to drugs that almost miraculously prevent or cure illness by attacking one specific etiological factor.
EX: penicillin and insulin
Social construction
something that exists in the world not as an objective condition, but because we have defined it as existing.
EX: measles as an illness we have organized our ideas about that virus, fever, and rash only 1 of the many possible ways to talk about it.
Medicalization
process of identifying a condition as a medical problem requiring a medical solution.
EX: chronic drunkenness to be a sin, but than later considered mental illness
Contested illness
distressing and painful symptoms that affected individuals believe constitute an illness even though many docs disagree.
EX: chronic fatigue syndrome
Managed care organization
are health insurance providers that restrain costs by monitoring closely the health services given to patients.
EX: Health Maintenance organization
Depoliticized
define it as a medical rather than political problem
EX: Women having hysteria (women being overly emotional) instead of focusing on the inequality being presented
Demedicalization
process by which a behavior or condition, once labeled sick becomes defined as natural or normal
EX: homosexual, health risk of masturbation, stupidity, laziness, etc
Geneticization
the shift toward defining genes as the cause of human disease, behavior, & differences
EX: true genetic diseases such as hemophilia only occur if an individual has a specific gene.
Epigenetic Effect
when genes combine with environmental factors in a process
EX: stressful conditions can “turn on” illness-causing genes and weaken the effectiveness of illness-preventing genes, thus increasing depression, heart disease, etc.
Functionalism
an image of society as a smoothly working, integrated whole
EX:
conflict perspective
a perspective in the social sciences that emphasizes the social, political, or material inequality of a social group.
EX: pay inequalities between groups and inequalities in the justice and edu systems of govt.
