Social Theories and Health Issues
Added on 2020-05-11
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Running head: HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA1HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARESYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA Institution Student Date
HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 2HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARESYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA IntroductionThe modern health care system in Australian offers widespread access to a comprehensive range of services, mainly supported through overall fiscal policy. Since the year 1984, a collective health system has been offered in this country by the Commonwealth Government, called Medicare. In the modern health care system, Medicare is now occasionally applied to designate the Australian health care system despite the fact that it specifically denotes access to medical care (medical Medicare) and hospitals (hospital Medicare)[ CITATION Jan15 \l 1033 ]. In this particular essay I will analytically discourse the Australian antiquity of the health care systems, the contemporary nature and the policies set aside by the country’s government to recover health care. In addition, the paper discusses sociological theories in which there are innumerable sub-theories such as conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory. As [ CITATION Art10 \l 1033 ]points out, it is from these particular theories, perspectives, and concepts one gets to comprehendand evaluate the communal interactions, relations as well as behavior of citizens in Australia. Moreover, this essay shall evaluate the associations of the sociological theories to the health care systems in Australia. Finally, I will explain how this discussion impacts on me as a health practitioner. Definition of termsBefore going deeper into the explanation of our topic of interest, it is important we define various key terms which shall be mentioned extensively in the course of the essay. These conceptions are medicine, health, hierarchy, and power. Stokols, et al. , (2013) defines health as the degree of an individual’s mental, social, and physical well-being. On the other hand,
HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 3medicine refers to a societal institution which aims at preventing, diagnosing, and treating illnesses and consequently promotes health in its various aspects. In our context, hierarchy shall be used to denote an organization or a system of individuals or groups positioned one above the other according to their social status or authority. Emanuel, (2011) in his work defines power as the capability to influence or direct somebody’s code of conduct or a certain course of events. With the above definitions on mind, we now turn to our discussion on how they interrelate the inknitting the general health care system in Australia with a close reference to the arguments explained by the sociological theorists. Commonly, the three sociological perspectives, namely, Functionalism, Conflict theory, and Symbolic interactionism are used in our field of study to offer a more comprehensive understanding than any other theoretical approaches. Snapshot and assumptions of sociological theories1.Functionalism theoretical perspective:Effective medical and good health are vital for the smooth performance of the society. Patients ought to take the “sick role” in attempt to be alleged as justifiably ill and then be exempted from their common responsibilities. The patient-physician connection is hierarchical that is the medicine practitioner offers guidelines, and the patient is expected to adhere to them[ CITATION AJa14 \l 1033 ].2.Conflict theory Theoretical perspective: Societal inequity symbolizes the quality of health care as well as the eminence of health. Individuals from underprivileged community backgrounds have high chances of becoming ill and receiving insufficient health care[ CITATION Jon13 \l 1033 ]. Moderately to upturn their revenues, doctors have
HIERARCHY AND POWER ARE INTRINSIC TO THE CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 4attempted to regulate the practice of medication and to describe community difficulties asmedical difficulties.3.Symbolic interactionism Theoretical perspective: Health and sickness are societal constructions: Mental and physical situations have petite or no objective authenticity but instead both are deliberated as healthy or ill situations if only they are demarcated as suchby the society. General practitioners “manage the situation” to show their power as well as medicinal knowledge[CITATION Mea \l 1033 ].The Functionalist ApproachThis theory was conceived by Talcott Parsons in the year 1951. According to Parsons, effective medical care and good health are necessary for a society to function smoothly. Poor health hampers citizen’s ability to carry out their roles in society, and if a large number of people are sick, the functioning and stability of the entire society suffer[ CITATION KAM15 \l 1033 ]. For the last few decades, Australia has been subjected to frequent occurrence of premature deaths amongthe young energetic individuals. This happening has been said to prevent people from conductingtheir social obligations fully. In addition, the situation, just as Parsons emphasizes represents an “underprivileged return” to Australia for the several expenses of pregnancy, birth, children care, as well as the socialization of individuals who face demise early in their life time. Deprived therapeutic care is similarly dysfunctional for the social order, as individuals who are sick encounter severe difficulties in attaining their healthy status again and individuals who are healthy have high chances of becoming ill[ CITATION ABC17 \l 1033 ].Parsons argued that for one to be considered as acceptably sick, various anticipations, called the sick role, should be portrayed. These anticipations include the observation that the individual did
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