Health Studies Essay: Pasteur, Chadwick, Aggleton and Public Health

This essay delves into the health beliefs of the Victorian era, focusing on the contributions of Louis Pasteur and Edwin Chadwick. It compares and contrasts their perspectives on health and illness, alongside Aggleton's sociological approaches. The essay explores Pasteur's innovations, such as vaccination and pasteurization, and how they align with Aggleton's view of health as the power to resist illness. It also examines Chadwick's emphasis on environmental and social factors influencing health. The conclusion highlights the convergence of these figures in deviating from a purely biological model, emphasizing the impact of various social factors on health. The essay provides a comprehensive overview of Victorian public health insights and their sociological underpinnings.

Running head: HEALTH STUDIES
Health studies
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1HEALTH STUDIES
Introduction
A significant contribution was made to the health of British citizens by Victorians such as
Louis Pasteur and Edwin Chadwick. The aim of the assignment is to compare and contrast their
beliefs about health and illness with reference to Aggleton's (1990) sociological approaches to
health and illness.
Aggleton's (1990) sociological approaches to health and illness
According to Aggleton health is the state of absence of illness. She also views health as
the reserve of physical strength. A healthy human being according to her means having the
power to resist the illness. According to her, understanding of health means realizing one’s own
reserve of health (Koinig 2016). According to this social approach the cause of disease and
illness can be the sociological pathway (social and individual factor) and not merely attributed to
the biological factors. Aggleton’s sociological approach to health and illness gives a framework
to deal with the patient considering his/her belief of health, which is not considered same for
another. This social model contradicts the bio-medical model of health and illness. The later
deals with internal working of the body, and is anchored by rigorous procedures for cure that are
expensive in nature (Timmermans and Tietbohl 2017).
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French microbiologist, biologist and a chemist who through his
various innovations as well as discoveries strove to eradicate some of the major diseases faced
by the people (Geison 2014). It is to be noted that he introduction of the concept of vaccination is
significant to note in this particular context which was aimed to equip the people to fight against

2HEALTH STUDIES
some of the most diseases that inflicted them. He is also known for his contribution in
developing the cure for “puerperal fever” (Geison 2014). He is also credited for developing the
vaccine for anthrax and rabies. It is to be noted that the health philosophies as well as the cures
innovated by Pasteur, often called by the name of pasteurization sought to reaffirm the concept
of health propounded by Aggleton, who considered a sound health person as the one who would
have the power to resist illness through his various vaccination treatments.
Edwin Chadwick
Edwin Chadwick’s work corresponded with the work of Florence Nightingale as he too
emphasized on the environmental as the factor determining illness. He believed that health and
illness is influenced by the political and social factors as well. He considered poverty and
environment are the causative factor of ill health. Edwin Chadwick contributed towards sanity
science and hygiene. It is to be noted that just like Florence Nightingale he too emphasized on
hygiene to fight critical illness in Crimean war but less focused on political factors. The health
beliefs of Edwin Chadwick align with the Aggleton’s social model of health as he viewed
infectious and chronic illnesses as the outcome of a complex interaction between social,
biophysical, or psychosocial factors (Richardson 2017).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the discussion that the concept of Louis Pasteur, Edwin
Chadwick aligns with the Aggleton’s (1990) sociological approaches to health and illness. All
the three people deviated from the biological model of health and explained influence of range of
social factors on health. While, Aggleton focused on social factors, Pasteur focused only on
health factors and Edwin focused on political, social and environmental factors affecting health.

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References
Geison, G.L., 2014. The private science of Louis Pasteur. Princeton University Press.
Koinig, I., 2016. Perceptions of Health and Illness and Their Bodily Relevance.
In Pharmaceutical Advertising as a Source of Consumer Self-Empowerment (pp. 18-31).
Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Richardson, J.P., 2017. 'The most complete experiment in army hygiene'British military reform
In sanitation from the Crimea to India: a comparative account of sanitary reform in the 19th
century. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13537
Timmermans, S. and Tietbohl, C., 2017. Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science
and Medicine. Social Science & Medicine.