Week 2 Notes Flashcards
What distinguishes the different sociological theories from each other?
- their stance in the structure vs agency debate
- the questions they as,
- their ultimate goal
What is the structure versus agency debate?
“Do people have freedom of choice (agency) or are their choices determined by their social position (structure)”
Structural Functionalism
” A society is a system of integrated parts, each of which have certain needs that must be fulfilled for social order to be maintained”
According to Structural Functionalism what is the role of health care professionals?
To rehabilitate individuals to carry out their social roles
What are the 4 key assumptions of structural functionalism?
- a social system is made up of interrelated and interdependent parts
- each part has a function and works to sustain the unity of the whole
- there exists a shared value system
- each person fulfilled a particular role
Sick role
how sick people are expected to act and how they are meant to be treated
According to the structural functionalism model illness is …
a form of deviance of normal societal expectations that prevents people from fulfilling their social roles and threatens the function of society
What are the rights of a sick individual ?
- they are exempt from normal roles
- the sick person is nor responsible for his or her condition
- the person should try and get well
- the person should seek out help and co-operate with the physician
what are critiques of the sick role concept?
- does not work well will chronic, terminal or permanently disabling conditions
- ability of adopt sick role if influenced by age, social class, ethnicity, gender etc…
- one can enter and exit the sick role without seeking medical attention
What are some new applications of sick role?
- people are encouraged to use as few medical services are possible
- blaming people for their illness (healthism)
What are some patterns in suicide?
- protestants > catholic
- lowest among Jewish
- unmarried > married
- no children > children
- suicide rates go up with economic transitions
According to the structural functionalism theory what are some explanations for suicide?
- lack of social integration (failure to share a collective beliefs and values)
- lack of social control of regulation (poorly defined norms/laws)
3 kinds of suicide are…
Egoistic Suicide
Anomic Suicide
Altruistic Suicide
Egoistic Suicide
individuals not integrated into society
Anomic Suicide
society fails to regulate the individual
everyday life is disrupted
Alturistic Suicide
people are so deeply integrated they are willing to die for the sake of their community
What are some critiques of Structural Functionalism ?
Theory does not adequately account for
- social change
- conflict
- social inequality
Marxism/ Conflict Theory
Society is dominated by a fundamental conflict of interest between two social classes - the capitalist class and the proletariat
- social inequality *
According to the Conflict theory what is the role of health care professionals?
to discipline and control the working class and provide individualized explanations of disease
Four Key assumptions of conflict theory
- societies are always changing
- conflict are always present in every social system
- there are elements or parts of every social system that contribute to change
- some people always have more power than others
two types of conflict
- internal conflict
2. external conflict
Internal conflict
conflict that occurs within a group
External Conflict
conflict that occurs outside a group or between groups
Social Stratification
“social inequality”
different social groups have access to and control of resources
According to social stratification health and illness are caused by…
unequal access to resources
Explain the “Black Lung” Case using conflict theory
Conflict between the workers and the mine owners. This caused the miners to have less access to health care and had much less power. Capitalist class’s goal was to make money, but did this at the expense of the workers
