Medical Dominance and Discourse in Health Sociology

This article discusses the concept of medical dominance and discourse in health sociology. It explains how medical dominance is achieved and its implications. It also defines discourse and its importance in communication among individuals in the community.

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Health Sociology
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Medical dominance
Medical dominance is known as the medical expertise control in regard to the content,
rules and regulations of its own activities, other fields in health and the authority, clients and
supremacy. It has greatly evolved and has been the key to delivering quality healthcare services.
This supremacy is acquired through doctors’ autonomy, through their important part in the
expenditure of services regarding health (Gray, 2011). They also have power over occupational
health categories, their influence in the administration and also their collective impact of medical
relations. Medical dominance is achieved by the autonomy, and the role medics play in the
healthcare system. This involves working tirelessly to make sure that people receive the help that
they need. There are social trends that came u in Australia that has some effect on the medical
profession dominant place. There is a need for medical dominance since the health professionals
in rural Australia are not employed by the public. They hold important independence as fee-for-
service givers whose medical influence is held by the autonomy of the profession. The
implication of medical dominance is that it helps the professionals to acquire more information
regarding health issues.
The concept of discourse
Discourse is identified as how an individual thinks and talk regarding things, the social
arrangement of the community and the relations among the above. Discourse comes from social
perspectives such as media and politics, among others. Most sociologists explain discourse as a
force that is productive since it controls our thoughts, information, values, actions and beliefs of
an individual. It involves much of what happens within the individual and the community.

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Additionally, discourse is rooted out of relationships of abilities since those who are in control
such as in medicine, law and education. Therefore, discourse influence and information are
deeply attached and work in unity to make an order. For example, when a patient is in a therapy
session, it helps them to open up in therapy sessions, and they are able to express their issues
well so that they can be accorded the help that they need. In addition, in biomedicine, it provides
biological help for health professionals to understand the human body, how it works and how it
should be treated. It provides health explanations for the specialists. Therefore, it is essential for
individuals to communicate well with each other since it has so much explanation and very
meaningful effects in the community that is often the chance of disagreements and problems so
that appropriate help can be given to them in terms of health challenges(Fox, 2016). The way
individuals communicate cannot be left out because that is how people get to learn from one
another without prejudice.

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Reference
Fox, N. J. (2016). Health sociology from post-structuralism to the new materialisms. Health:,
20(1), 62-74.
Gray, D. E. (2011). Health sociology: an Australian perspective. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson
Education Australia.