Sociological Construction of Health and Illness

Question 1

What is sociology?

Answer 1

Systematic approach to studying and thinking about society, human behaviour and social group

Question 2

Why is sociology important for healthcare workers

Answer 2

• As future health care workers it important to examine own views of health/illness
• Will impact (consciously or unconsciously) on how we work and who we work with

Question 3

What is social construction?

Answer 3

• Instead of viewing something about the world as “natural”, or “unchangeable”
• View many things as “socially constructed”, which means it is subject to human perception

Question 4

What is social structure?

Answer 4

Human action should be understood as a product of underlying social structures

Question 5

What is culture?

Answer 5

Very culture develops its own norms: “rules” about how people should behave

Question 6

What theory did Sociologist Talcott Parsons propose?

Answer 6

“Sick role”

Question 7

Describe Parsons’ argument of the “sick role”

Answer 7

• Argued that being sick is a role which comes with certain role expectations
• aAsick person is allowed to stop work, reduce family responsibilities and is also expected to seek out medical advice and support to cure the illness; the person

Question 8

What is an example of an inference of the sick role?

Answer 8

• There is a medical role
• Doctor and other medical staff have power, can legitimise the illness (provide diagnosis) or (“I can’t find anything wrong with you”)
• The doctor’s understanding of illness and health is generally seen as the “correct” one

Question 9

What is the criticism of Parsons’ sick role theory?

Answer 9

What happens in chronic illness where an individual is not acutely ill but instead has to live with a condition

Question 10

What are cultural meanings of illness?

Answer 10

• Societies have different understandings of what the sick role entails, who is deserving of it and how people who are sick should behave
• Identified that certain illnesses are seen as more “deserving” of care than others; some are stigmatized

Question 11

What is a constructionist approach?

Answer 11

• Reminds us that how a problem is defined affects how society responds to the problem
• How the experiences of individual are influenced by the definition and response to their problem

Question 12

Describe theory of sociological imagination

Answer 12

Looking at a health problem from an individual level only leads to superficial understanding of that problem, focusing on biology and behaviour, ignoring other factors such as culture and history

Question 13

Describe the model of sociological analysis

Answer 13

Analysis a situation from different perspectives

1) Historical
2) Structural
3) Critical
4) Cultural