The Impact of Socio-Cultural Conditions on Human Health Outcomes

This essay delves into the significant impact of socio-cultural conditions on health, examining the influence of the biomedical model, social location, and social networks. It begins by discussing the biomedical model's role in shaping medical perceptions and its tendency to medicalize the human body, particularly affecting women. The essay explores how social factors such as income, age, and lifestyle can influence an individual's response to stress and overall health outcomes, highlighting disparities between privileged and marginalized groups. It also analyzes the effects of social networks on health outcomes, emphasizing how individuals are influenced by their social circles. The essay concludes by reinforcing the relationship between social location and health conditions, showing how individuals with socio-economic advantages may cope better with stress compared to marginalized groups. The essay uses studies and examples to illustrate the concepts of the biomedical model, intersectionality, and social networks, providing a comprehensive understanding of socio-cultural conditions on health.

Running head: IMPACT OF SOCIO-CULTURAL CONDITION ON HEALTH
IMPACT OF SOCIO-CULTURAL CONDITION ON HEALTH
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1IMPACT OF SOCIO-CULTURAL CONDITION ON HEALTH
Executive summary
Biomedical model of health and illness is an important conceptual tool that views the human
body that needs to be examined, controlled and regulated. The biomedical model imbues
medical meanings to the human bodies and especially medicalizes the bodies of women. This
discussion also explores the relationship between social location of individuals and groups on
the plight of their health. Towards the end, there is a discussion on the role of social networks
in determining the health outcomes of individuals.

2IMPACT OF SOCIO-CULTURAL CONDITION ON HEALTH
Introduction
The biomedical model is powerful in influencing, shaping and determining the
behaviour of the medical community regarding their perception towards patients. Doctors are
trained to become the agents of social control and exercise their medical expertise for the
treatment of people. The biomedical model emphasizes on the human body as a site of
diseases that needs to be treated and regulated (Likis, 2016). The biomedical worldview of
the human body medicalizes the bodies of humans especially women. Every process and
states of the human body is pathologized with the purpose of subsuming it under the purview
of medical surveillance (McHugh & Chrisler, 2015). For example, many of the issues
addressed by the specialization of gynaecology imbue medical meanings to the woman’s
body.
Medicalization of women’s bodies through the biomedical model
I have found that there is a tendency to view women as the weaker sex by labelling
them as biologically weak and being prone to illness. It is also found that more women than
men visit the doctors. However, such positivistic data invisibilizes the structural issues and
scenario that propels women to visit the doctors. It is found that it is largely during the
reproductive phase that women make the highest visits to the doctors. It was found that
women of the developing nations who have to secure fuel wood from the forest are affected
with pulmonary diseases due to the smoke generated from the fuel wood. Women in the
developed nations are prone to illness pertaining to harmful chemical being used in the
kitchen.

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Lessons learnt on intersectionality and its effects on health
Studies have shown that two individuals can have different responses to external
stress based on their social location including income, age group, lifestyle and so on can have
an influence on one’s health. It is found that executives and top level executives who are
perpetually under pressure to perform challenging tasks suffer from high level of stress (The
Commission to Build a Healthier America, 2018). However, such kinds of stress would not
culminate to wear and tear of the body unlike someone who is engaged in manual job.
Individuals who have socio-economic privilege like education, economic capital or have
higher incomes may actually reap the benefits of work-related stress. On the contrary,
individuals of the marginalized group in terms of inadequate economic capital or lack of
educational credentials is found to be afflicted with greater stress without having the
necessary material resources to cope with stress. A study showed that found that rural white
children belonging to low-income families are more exposed to physical hardships. In a
society that is epitomised by intense racial discrimination, the experience and degree of stress
is contingent upon the racial identity. The work-related stress in the family to transmit to
members in the family especially for children.
Social network analysis on health
The concept of social network is that individuals influenced by their social networks
and any events in the social circle have a bearing on the behaviour and experience of the
individual (Fowler & Christakis, 2008). It is found that individuals who are happy belong to
the same cluster. If one’s nearest siblings live in close proximity they are happier compared
the presence of distant cousins in similar proximity. Studies have shown that social context
have the potential to moderate the transmission of happiness of happiness from one person to

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another. Research has documented that there is a correspondence between coresidence and
physical proximity for the transmission of emotional states.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be stated that there is a relationship between the social location and
health condition experienced by an individual or groups. Individuals who enjoy socio-
economic privileges even if they face stress possess the necessary material benefits to cope
with stress. This is in contrast to marginalized groups who have to face stress without
corresponding material benefits.

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References
Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social
network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart
Study. Bmj, 337, a2338.
Likis, F. E. (2016). Women’s gynecologic health. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
McHugh, M. C., & Chrisler, J. C. (Eds.). (2015). The Wrong Prescription for Women: How
Medicine and Media Create a" Need" for Treatments, Drugs, and Surgery: How
Medicine and Media Create a" Need" for Treatments, Drugs, and Surgery. ABC-
CLIO.
The Commission to Build a Healthier America. (2018). Commissiononhealth.org. Retrieved 5
March 2018, from http://www.commissiononhealth.org/