LC459 Sociology of Health Assignment Sample

Introduction - LC459 Sociology of Health Assignment Sample

The concept of health and illness is not strictly medical; it also encompasses social, cultural, and even political aspects. HIV/ AIDS is an illness which has been socially constructed and implies that health is a socially meaningful concept built in concert with social experience, structure, and power. The sociology of health and illness perspective critiques the biomedical model, which sees health as the lack of disease and offers a reductionist view of the human. However, it focuses on health distribution factors, including the standard of living, gender, colour, and radiation in health facilities.

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The Social Model of Health

Class and Health Inequality

Social class is a key determinant of health. Findings revealed that the elderly lower-income groups have lesser average healthy years, shorter life expectancy, and limited access to appropriate treatment. Poverty leads to inadequate dietary, housing, health, and preventive medical care (O’Donnell, 2024). Also, the members of the lower class tend to have more physically straining and dangerous jobs, which in turn exposes them to workplace injuries and other illnesses (Siddiqui et al., 2020).

These disparities are also magnified during an outbreak like the COVID-19 pandemic compared to everyday circumstances. Because many low-wage earners cannot afford to work from home, such individuals were more prone to exposure to the virus. They also reported more frequent financial barriers to accessing medical care and thus worse health than other wealthy groups (Thompson, 2021).

Gender and Health

Other demographic factors also influence health experiences, including gender. The culture expects men to act in specific manners and women to act in another; these aspects dictate their approach to health care, seeking medical attention, and experiencing ailments (Mokua et al., 2024). For example, men receive little encouragement to enter health care systems, display ‘weakness’, or even get checked properly for conditions when ill. This phenomenon is particularly well illustrated in mental health, where men feel embarrassed to seek medical assistance due to perceived weakness (Subramaniapillai et al., 2023).

As for the second limitation, women are subjected to gender bias in medical treatment all over the world. Traditionally, male patients have been at the forefront of medical research and studies, and as a result, little is known about women’s health (Subramaniapillai et al., 2023). This has led to the failure to effectively diagnose some conditions, especially those involving heart and chronic pain problems (Galsanjigmed and Sekiguchi, 2023). Also, women are expected to assume caregiving roles that enhance their vulnerabilities because they give care to others, even at the expense of their health.

Limitations of the Social Model of Health

Although the social model offers a clear concept of the gap in health, it still has some drawbacks. However, the critics may be right, suggesting that it may not capture biological and genetic factors at work in disease (Andreassen et al., 2023). Mortal illnesses, for instance, cancer or genetic diseases, are personal afflictions and may not directly relate to societies’ organization; hence, there is a need to strive to combine biological medicine and social factors (Roberts, 2023). Further, finalising policies addressing social determinants of health may face difficulties owing to economic and political prudence.

The Experience of Illness and the Sick Role

Adult Education 575 The Role of State in Health Care

The status of healthcare also differs from country to country, depending upon the political and economic structure of the country. Some countries have a state-funded healthcare system, meaning that anyone can access healthcare, while others have a healthcare system where the individual pays for the services (Kumar, 2023). The organization of the healthcare system affects various aspects of patients’ treatment and communication between doctors and their clients.

For instance, in a public healthcare service, physicians may be pressured to write more scripts or prescribe several treatments within a limited time, meaning they spend little time with the patient (Kumar, 2023). In privatized systems, people stand to be treated depending on the cash they are willing to pay, leading to inequality (Reibling, Ariaans and Wendt, 2019). They are structural factors that determine the nature of interactions with healthcare and the level of patient engagement.

Power Imbalances in Doctor-Patient Relationships

Traditionally, the interaction between a doctor and a patient can be described as a status one where a doctor is a person with medical expertise. In contrast, a patient is a subordinate who must obey (Reibling, Ariaans and Wendt, 2019). However, there has recently been a change towards patient autonomy, and the patient himself has become an active participant in the decision-making process.

Despite this shift, some inequalities persist. Minority patients who are from low-income groups or people of colour are likely to receive an inferior kind of care due to prejudice or racism from healthcare providers (Hamed et al., 2022). Further, the trend of medicalisations gave healthcare practitioners the authority to decide what problem constitutes a medical one, which has sometimes led to more diagnostic categorization or unnecessary treatment.

Real-World Example: Mental Health and the Sick Role

The occurrence of mental health diseases like depression, anxiety, and bipolar illness is usually characterized by stigma and social rejection (Favre and Lepouriel, 2023). Unlike diseases of the body, which are observable and quantifiable, mental disorders can be considered mere laziness or lack of motivation rather than actual diseases. This may keep a person from going for treatment or will be deemed “ill” in a manner that a physical ailment would warrant (Solmi et al., 2022).

For instance, a client with major depression may find it quite hard to go to work or even interact with his/her peers. However, they are not always afforded the same social support or medical leave as they would with a physical disease (Solmi et al., 2022). Female employees must be conscientious because colleagues, supervisors, and relatives may pressure them to work through the symptoms instead of taking a sick day.

Another weakness is rooted in the fact that the sick role presupposes that people turn to doctors and follow their advice. However, the mentally ill have more difficulties in getting appropriate treatment because of the availability of healthcare resources, stigma, or lack of mental health services (McIntyre and Calabrese, 2019). At times, these psychotic symptoms may, for example, include paranoia or lack of motivation and, therefore, hinder users from accessing health care services.

Doctor-Patient Interaction and the Role of the State

Historically, the doctor-patient relationship has always been a patriarchal one, where doctors dominated the decision-making process regarding patients (Temkin et al., 2024). Traditionally, physicians have been seen as the guardians of information, and care recipients are supposed to lend an ear to their keepers. This is especially evident in healthcare models, where the doctor decides on the patient's needs without consulting whether it suits his/her health (Tripathi, Rastogi and Jadon, 2019).

Nevertheless, the current move towards patient power has relaxed this aspect with patient involvement and decision-making. They must assume more responsibilities, be involved in decision-making, and question physicians and other healthcare providers (Tripathi, Rastogi and Jadon, 2019). Electronic technologies like symptom checkers, online forums, and patient communities have increased in providing secondary opinions and more information on the health sector.

However, there are differences in the dynamic between doctors and patients. People from the community who are from lower socioeconomic status or of colour may be discriminated against, endure micro-aggression or have limited access to healthcare services (Ehie et al., 2021). Language, culture, and economic disparities can influence the positioning of patient and healthcare-provider interactions.

The state always appears to have a vested interest in health care at one level, ranging from financing and delivery to planning treatment patterns, curative processes, and staff training (Ehie et al., 2021). Healthcare systems can be categorized by the type of model that different countries have adopted, with advantages and disadvantages as to their availability and utility. Another way the state impacts health care is through medicalization, through which observations of life transform into medical matters (Rivenbark and Ichou, 2020). This has been made apparent in more recent years, where different diseases like ageing, delivery, and ADHD are controlled medically.

Conclusion

The current perception of health and illness is not a mere reflection of the absence or presence of disease or physical ailment but a complex entity affected by social fabrics, cultural norms, and political influences. The social model of health means that factors like class and gender affect people's health and show a lot of inequity in healthcare access and experiences. Illness and the Sick role shows how people experience sickness and how different sickness roles are enacted: mental health sickness creates new social roles of sickness. Furthermore, the doctor-patient relationship and the state's position reveal power dynamics within the healthcare field, the effects of various healthcare systems, and the increasing significance of medicalization.

The analysis of health as a constructivist concept enables a broader view of health and medical care. It goes beyond the biomedical model of diagrammatically pinpointing an individual’s health state. Hence, it explores how health affects economic, cultural, and political aspects. With a focus on social determinants of health and Social Justice in health care, societies can, therefore, endeavour towards establishing effective & efficient healthcare systems that impact the health of everyone without discriminating the class of the person.

References

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