The Importance of Sociology in Understanding Social Determinants of Health

Running head: SOCIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Sociology Assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Sociology entails the study of society and is important to health practitioners because
social factors have an influence on the health of a person and how the illness of a person is
treated.
One of the perspectives of health is the Biomedical Model of health. The biomedical model of
health focuses exclusively on biological factors and does not take into account the role of
environmental factors, social factors and psychological factors on a person’s health.
In 2003, the World Health Organization in Europe proposed that the social determinants
of health include personal and work related stress, the early life of an individual, whether a
person had social support or not, social exclusion, whether a person had access to healthy,
wholesome and adequate food, whether the person was employed or unemployed , transport
and addiction (Henise et al., 2015). In addition to these, in Canada, social determinants of
health include income and education, working conditions, housing, gender, and disability. These
social determinants of health are related to a person’s health rather than a person’s behaviour.
Genetics also do not play a part in increasing the risk for a disease, or injury in a person.
(Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). Thus, the behaviour of a person and the genetics of a person do
not increase the vulnerability of a person to diseases.
If a person is very stressed, then it has a negative impact on his health; social support is also
very important and integral to a person’s well being. A caring and supportive family also helps
to mitigate stress and leads to an overall good health of a person. The early life of a person also
has an effect on his present lifestyle, and if the present lifestyle is unhealthy, then his health
unfortunately is bound to suffer. (Kelder, Hoelscher & Perry, 2015).

2SOCIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Good employment opportunities also lead to a high income and consequently the
means to ensure good health. Being socially excluded can also have an adverse effect on one’s
health as it leads to a feeling of social boycott, which may lead to depression and stress and
affect the self – esteem and health of a person (Rogers & Pilgrim, 2014). Unemployment is also
another factor for poor health because if a person is unemployed, then he or she lacks the
resources to lead a healthy life ( Smith, 2016 ).
Any kind of negative addiction like addiction to alcohol and drugs also has an extremely
negative effect on one’s health and should be avoided. Lack of proper food also leads to poor
health, and the lack of one’s own transport that results in completely relying on public
transport, also leads to fatigue and exhaustion, which can have a detrimental effect on one’s
health especially on the elderly people of our society. Low income also leads to poor health as a
person lacks the financial resources and means that contribute to good health. Education also
has an effect on the health of a person as people who are educated are more aware of various
health problems and knows the means to prevent them or cure them unlike people who are
not educated. Working conditions also plays an important role on one’s health (Smith, 2016).
People who work in factories or mines are more open and susceptible to health related
problems because they encounter the emission of harmful chemicals and gases that are
injurious to one’s health.
People who do not have a proper house to live in are also in a greater danger of being
unwell as they live on the roads and sleep on pavements. (Gadhoke et al., 2018) In some
societies, underprivileged women do not have the means to take care of themselves and their