Sociological Approaches to Social Determinants of Health

This report analyzes the social determinants of health using sociological theories and compares them with the medical model. It discusses the impact of social, economic, and political factors on health and the importance of preventive measures. The report explores the conflict theory and functionalist approach in understanding and addressing health inequalities.

Sociology analyses the social determinants
of health and utilizes a number of concepts
and theories in order to understand health
and illness

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
Social determinants of health...................................................................................................................3
Sociological theories................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Sociology is considered as the study that includes various factors associated with social
interactions and relationships. Also, along with these, various social determinants are also
concerned with the same that can actually help in understanding and analyzing the factors related
to illness or health (Balmer, 2016). The report includes the analysis of various determinants of
health with the help of sociological theories and its comparison with the medical model. There
are various different perspectives of the sociological theories such as the functionalist approach,
conflict approach etc. but a few of them have been discussed in the report. Also, it includes the
different perspectives of these theories that helps in reflecting the concepts widely.
Social determinants of health
Social determinants of health can be considered as the factors that can be social,
economical or political as well and these are responsible for affecting the health and related
factors of the individuals. Usually some very well known and common determinants of health
are considered as some basic circumstances that may have some affect on the health such as the
exposure rate to the pollution, whether it is about air pollution, water pollution etc. It has been
observed that these determinants can have an impact on the health and this impact can be direct
as well as indirect. Although these factors are inter linked which means that if an individual is
poor and unemployed, it directly means that it would be affecting their housing as well such as
improper sanitation facilities, lack of consumption and quality of food etc. There are enormous
factors that may be included in this that has some influence on the health of a person. In various
cases, there are some people who cannot afford to live a healthy and affordable lifestyle because
of which, they have to further face difficulties (Heath, Richards and de Graaf, 2016). Some
very common and well known examples of it can be considered as the fact that a huge amount f
population is still unemployed and that is affecting the way they live. Also, along with that,
various other factors get affected by this such as they have to adjust in low sanitation facilities
etc. But it is very important to involve some preventive measures by which these can be
controlled Socio economic factors include income of the person in which they have to manage
the living, psychological factors which may include affecting the mental factors such as
relationships and interactions, support from the other ones etc. lifestyle factors include the way to
manage things, stress etc. sociological theories can help in analyzing these factors in a more
efficient and appropriate way. These are discussed as under :
Sociological theories
Although there are various perspectives that are associated with the determinants of
health but the ones that can act suitable and relevant here are discussed as under :
Conflict theory

The conflict theory helps in focusing all the inequality factors that leads to provide a
standard and quality care to the deliver y system. It is obvious that delivering the quality of care
for maintaining an efficient health varies from place to place. There can be various factors taken
that leads to the inequality and some of the vey well known factors include racism,
discrimination, gender differences etc. although as per the Equality Act 2010, it has been clearly
stated that there must be no sort of inequality in any organization or in health care, whether it is
on the basis of race, gender etc. because it can actually affect the mental stability of the person to
a huge extent. Also, it states that if anyone found guilty in this act, they may have to pay huge
penalties and the punishment can also lead to the imprisonment of the person. So, these factors
like racism etc. can actually influence very negative on the person’s mind. Therefore, it should
be ensured to exclude these factors by various different means (Franke and Koch, 2017). Also, if
a person is unemployed and becomes ill, in that case, getting proper treatment is actually difficult
for them. It is obvious that for poor people, affording proper medication is quite difficult. Also,
there has been a lack of facility for the pregnant women. It is because there has been observed
various cases where the pregnant women did not have any treatment at the time of delivery and
because of which they have to deliver the baby in urgent and immediate conditions. So, the
health care should ensure the fact to provide immediate treatment to such cases (Alderson, 2017).
The government has also initiated various operations for this so that the person in and can be
able to get proper and immediate treatment because these small factors can actually harm an
individual’s life. So, the theory also criticizes various techniques and strategies by practitioners
because even after so many approaches also, people still have to face a huge number of issues.
Many of the people who cannot afford a better lifestyle have to cooperate with the sanitation
facilities as well, which in turn affects their health to a huge extent.
Functionalist approach
Functionalist approach focuses on the fact that for maintaining a balance for a happier
and healthier society, it is very important to provide proper care and support to the people who
are actually in need of it. It also includes the importance of the relationship of a patient and a
practitioner and this is hierarchal because the practitioner has some specific set of instructions for
the patients and the patient has to follow them. So, an efficient and appropriate medical
treatment along with a better health status are considered as two efficient elements that are
required to maintain the balance between a healthier life and a healthier body as well. It is
important as well as this is obvious that when an individual is ill, they must not be able to
perform their roles better (Stets and Turner, 2014). So, it includes various factors that can be
included in order to stay healthy such as avoiding junk food, involving exercises on a regular
basis, so that the person can stay healthy enough and does not get attacked by any virus or
diseases. Therefore, it can be evaluated that every sub part of the system can be improved so that
it can well together promote stability and efficiency. One of a very special feature of this
approach is that it keeps its focus on every single function and the influence of the same on the
other ones.

A very common example of this can be considered as the fact that some families because
of various reasons such as less income sources, being a single parent etc. due to which they are
not able to provide attention and adequate factors to the children and thus, the education of the
child suffers. Although various initiatives have been started by the government in order to
provide support to such families and their children, but still there are enormous cases that are still
facing such issues (Tinati, Halford and Pope, 2014). According to the sociologists, there are two
types of functions that are considered in the functionalist approach and these involve latent and
manifest. Out of the both, the manifest functions are considered as that functions that can be
easily identified whereas the latent ones are classified as consequences that are not available
easily, which means these act as visible. So, these can be considered as hidden.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that sociological factors involve various determinants
of health that throws some influence of the health and health related factors of an individual.
Although there are various sociological approaches that can be implemented in order to have
efficient and appropriate outcomes, but the ones that can suitable enough as per the requirement,
the functionalist and the conflict theory has been used. So, by means of it, various preventive
measures can be taken in order to achieve the outcomes and that too at a much faster rate.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Alderson, P., 2017. Book review: Reconstructing Sociology: The Critical Realist Approach.
Balmer, B., 2016. of Science & Technology Studies at University College London. His research
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arms limitation, particularly the his-tory of chemical and biological warfare. His books include
Secrecy and. Biological Threats In The 21st Century: The Politics, People, Science And
Historical Roots.
Franke, U. and Koch, M., 2017. Sociological Approaches. In Palgrave Handbook of Inter-
Organizational Relations in World Politics (pp. 169-187). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Gellert, U., 2014. Sociological Approaches in Mathematics Education. In Encyclopedia of
Mathematics Education (pp. 558-562). Springer Netherlands.
Heath, A. F., Richards, L. and de Graaf, N. D., 2016. Explaining corruption in the developed
world: the potential of sociological approaches. Annual Review of Sociology, 42, pp.51-79.
Inghilleri, M., 2016. Sociological Approaches to Translation and Interpreting Research.
Routledge.
McLuhan, A. E., 2016. Sociological approaches to character. Oxford University Press.
Singleton, A., 2016. Contemporary sociological approaches to spirituality. In Spirituality across
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Steiner, P., 2015. The Organizational Gift and Sociological Approaches to Exchange. Re-
imagining Economic Sociology, pp.275-298.
Stets, J. E. and Turner, J. H. eds., 2014. Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions (Vol. 2).
Springer.
Tinati, R., Halford, S., Carr, L. and Pope, C., 2014. Big data: methodological challenges and
approaches for sociological analysis. Sociology, 48(4), pp.663-681.