Sociological Perspectives Flashcards
What is meant by sociological perspectives?
- Both history and biography
- Quality of mind as a resource
- Always already a link between individual and social
- Task to explore the relationship between two levels of attribution of responsibility
Socio-cultural contexts and structural conditions that enable individual accounts - what is meant by this?
Without socio-cultural world, there would not be individual accounts. This is how the social works to form individual accounts in relation to health behaviours.
People obey rules that are socially constructed by people; these can be studied - why is this important?
In medicine, walking into settings/locations that have different rules. Might have to pick these up by osmosis.
Continuity of social relations over time – capitalism, forms of surveillance, inequalities, poverty & welfare. What example was given in the lecture?
E.g. social inequalities of health. This is why NHS was formed, but it has actually got worse?
What comprises the biomedical sociological perspective?
Biological reality, dying trajectories, palliative care, advanced directives, death certification
Population statistics on mortality & morbidity
What comprises the social constructionist sociological perspective?
Shared understanding or construct of death & dying formed through values, norms, social practices & contingencies
Social determinants of mortality
Gender, ethnicity, age, race, education and SES structure
What comprises the athropological cultural perspective?
Body rituals, warfare, martyrdom, suicide, capital punishment, euthanasia, religion, mythology
What comprises the phenomenological existentialist perspective?
Meaning & significance of individual embodied experiences
Narrative reconstruction
Mythopoetic curriculum
Poetry
Give some examples of socially structuring characteristics (primary dimensions). (6)
Age Gender Race Ethnicity Sexual orientation Mental/physical abilities
Give some examples of socially structuring characteristics (secondary dimensions). (10)
Family status Communication style Work experience Income Geographic location Religion First language Education Work style Organisational role and level
What is meant by habitus?
Social norms, tendencies, habits, resources that are taken for granted and so guide behaviour. Structured determining ways to think, feel and act that become internalised and seen as part of character.
What is meant by phenomenological existentialism?
Unpicking veil of order and meaning that societies construct as a defence against chaos posed by ill-health, disease & death.
What is meant by the mythopoetic curriculum?
Imaginal knowing in education is not fantasy, but is linked to the way humans imagine the real world. Imaginal knowing moves the heart, holds the imagination, finds the fit between self-stories, public myths, and the content of cultural knowledge.
Discuss anthropological cultural perspectives.
- Body’s indicator status
- Cultural thoughts systems integrate their ideas about mortality into their language, religions, values, rituals
- Cultural institutions of health related locations (e.g. GP surgeries, hospitals, gyms)
- Commercialisation of death
What is meant by reflexivity?
Tied to the emphasis on the individual as the locus of decisions and choices related to their HEALTH.
Informed by a predominantly individualistic way of managing the self in late modern conditions.
