Sociological Perspective on Health PDF
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Added on 2020-05-11
Sociological Perspective on Health PDF
Added on 2020-05-11
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Running head: SOCIOLOGYSociological Perspective on HealthName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor’s note
1SOCIOLOGYThe Sociology of Health and Medicine in Australia started in early 20th century and itwas regarded as the formative years because the independent departments of sociology werenot being established in Australia until 1950s. The earliest form of sociology emerged withinother departments of Australia, Workers Educational Association (WEA). The year between1950s and 1960s experienced inter-disciplinarity and collaboration. This year alsoexperienced an emergence of Australian Journal of Social Issues (1961) and Australian andNew Zealand Journal of Sociology (1965). The year of late 1960s and1970s experiencedintensification and organisation. This period saw the development of Melbourne basedMedical Sociology Group. The year of 1980s lead to the establishment of institutional growthand specialization. During 1990s there occurred consolidation among fragmentation. Finallyin between 2000 to 2010 is a special decade in sociology which leads to theinternationalisation (Collyer, 2011).As per the social model of health, health in influenced by a number of factorsincluding individual health perspectives, interpersonal health backup, organisation backdrop,social framework, political context and other economic factors. In Australia, marginalisedpeople who fall under the bracket of the low socio-economic community have shorter lifespan as they die younger due to their poor health backup (Yuill, Crinson & Duncan, 2010).Under complex social environment, health is considered as sensitive factor and a difficultscenario altogether that needs to be addressed urgently at multiple levels (Wilkinson &Marmot, 2003). The hierarchy in health is based on several factors and these includes socialstatus, income status, employment level, working condition, social support networks, gender,cultural background, development in early childhood, food security, the communication,housing and transport, food literacy, types of health services social exclusion and personalhealth practises. Complex interactions between these factors lead to a generation of dramaticdifference in the health backup among the people or population who lies under differentsociological environment. For example there are significant discrepancies in health amongthe indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia. In comparison to the non-indigenouscounterpart, indigenous people suffer a lot in health inequalities. There are more reportedcases of indigenous children being hospitalised for infectious disease like pneumonia thanthat of on-indigenous people. Moreover, indigenous people encountered higher mortalityrates among the non-indigenous children. Not only disease, indigenous children are morelikely to get hospitalised due to physical assault (the incidence are encountered more amongthe girls than that of the boys). Indigenous people due to the lack of proper hygienic backup
2SOCIOLOGYsuffer from dental cavities in comparison to Australian average. In case of child birth,indigenous people have higher incidence of still birth, low birth weight or premature birth.The main reason behind this birth related mortality among the indigenous children is higherincidence of single mother. These single mothers encounter higher consumption of alcoholand smoking leading to complications during pregnancy. On the other hand, the indigenousmothers who live in urban areas have lower rates of breastfeeding (Germov, 2005).This backdrop of poor health condition is an outcome of several complex socialfactors. Apart from social factors, there also several historical, economic and environmentalfactors like racism, depression, trauma, dispossession and internal generational trauma(Bowes & Grace, 2014) which are responsible of severe health inequalities among indigenouspeople in Australia. According to Yuill, Crinson and Duncan, there six significant featuresbased on the social models of health 1. Health of an individual is either inhibited or enabled by social context. Althoughthe choice of a people are dependent on their behaviour and internal psychological backupbut social context of the people also influence their choice like gender, class and ethinicity.2. The body of a human being cannot be comprehensively defined by the biology,anatomy and physiology but the social and psychological consequences must also be takeninto consideration. 3. The possible outcome of health is not solely dependent on the disease prognosisand symptoms. The manner in which the scenario of health condition is being perceived andsimultaneously experienced with respect to disease and illness vary from culture to cultureand socio-economic backdrop.4. Biomedicine and medical science may be different sectors in health but are notunrelated; there exist an inherent integrity between the two concepts. 5. There is a political connection in health. Significant political decision and processimpact health and the well being on an individual and influence the social determinants inhealth. 6. It is important to listen and vouch for the decisions, opinions of the people who arelying outside the healthcare domain in order to get a clear and unbiased view of the healthdomain.
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