Sociological Approaches to Social Determinants of Health

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