Sociological Context: UK Trends, Cultural Values, and Healthcare

This report provides a sociological analysis of the UK context, exploring social construction, current trends, cultural values, and their implications for the health and social care sector. The report is divided into two main tasks. Task 1 explains social construction, reviews current trends in the UK (households, community, education, unemployment, and leisure), discusses the influence of cultural values and beliefs, and evaluates the implications of societal changes on the health and social care sector. Task 2 delves into theoretical perspectives, including the Black, Whitehead, and Acheson Reports, and explains health inequalities using data from census and stratification. It analyzes how social and health issues are socially constructed and discusses the impact of inequalities on individual status and life chances. The report concludes by summarizing the disparities in health and social care facilities between lower and higher classes, emphasizing income and status inequalities.

Sociological context
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1a) Explanation of Social Construction...........................................................................................3
1b) Reviewing the current trends in the UK and their expectations................................................3
1c) discussing the influence of cultural values and beliefs in the society.......................................4
1d) Evaluating the implications of changes in society on the health and social care sector...........4
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Sociological is the study of human social behaviour which shows the relationships between the
humans, organizations and development of human society (Adams, 2013). The method which used is
for factual investigation and for critical analysing, to enhance a knowledge of an individual about
social order, disorder etc. is known as sociology. This whole research comprises of three parts in which
first part is a report which include social factor that influences society and its structures such as age,
gender, ethnicity etc. Second part is the essay which focuses on theoretical perspectives and health
related inequalities etc. Third part constitutes the presentation with a reflective account which
emphasizes on impact on social and health issues of the society.
TASK 1
1a) Explanation of Social Construction
It is a social concept which consists of knowledge in sociology and communication theory
which is based on various assumptions about the reality (Aveyard, 2014). Social construct is widely
accepted by the society to deal with the respective event which can be related to the people notions or
with the environment. The social construction is a thought which can be natural but it cannot represent
the reality to the society. The stratification in the UK depends upon gender, social class, family, social
inequalities etc. Gender is also a part of the socially constructed entity. The notions of gender represent
socialization process which constructs masculine or feminine identity in the society. Social class is yet
another socially constructed entity. The class represent a universal phenomenon which identifies the
classes which vary from one society to another (Bird and et.al., 2010). Even within a culture different
people may likely to have different notions of class determinants. From the background, it has seen that
family lived in the area which has low employment level and people there were poverty stricken.
Somehow, the people are seeking help from the government in the form of income and other
allowances. Here, the UK government are discriminating between rich and poor in terms of income
and wealth inequality.
1b) Reviewing the current trends in the UK and their expectations
The current trends in UK are based o9n the social values of the society (Bulmer, 2015). The
recent trends which bring change in society are households, community, education unemployment and
leisure. Households are a broader term in which people live together or people who eat alone. Most of
the households are a single family or living alone in UK. The current trends in household and family
are formation of particular interest to policy makers, for example in determining educational or
housing requirements (Buunk, Gibbons and Buunk, 2013). Changes in social laws and attitudes, due to
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this, people are expecting to spend more on their living standard and to develop their individual well-
being. Community is focussing more on the welfare of the society by deciding and planning to meet
their societal requirements (Gavrielides, 2011). Community can shape their expectations through doing
door-to-door locality work as well as developing relations between social services and society. The
community's social worker is also planning to educate adults. The people of the UK are spending more
on the education which is growing rapidly from past few years. People are spending more on the
primary education as compared to higher education.
According to the background, in some area the individuals are unemployed as compared to
other posh area of UK. In this, employment level is low and people are seeking help through
government in terms of grants and allowances (Gulliford and Morgan, 2013). The wages which are
paid to worker are also low so they have expectations from the government to give them employment
and increase their income level. All the people need leisure in their life so the individuals are expecting
more to develop their lifestyles. According to tastes and preferences, person lifestyles is also changing
and they are paying more on the standard of living and their expectations can be fulfilled by
developing their lifestyles through building their status as social class in the society (Isaac, 2011).
1c) discussing the influence of cultural values and beliefs in the society
The influence of the cultural values and beliefs in the society can be positive or negative. The
cultural values and beliefs keep on changing through new culture in the society. The religious belief is
an important aspect of the society. There are people in the society who are orthodox and they have their
own rules and regulations which influence the society (Jordan, 2010). For example, Children often
struggle between old and new culture. Children essentially belong to both culture whereas their parents
often belong predominantly to the old culture. The society is also divided on the basis of income and
wealth distribution in which people from rich class spend more on standard of living because they
have more income level as compared to those who have low level of income and spends less on their
living. The cultural values and beliefs related to the diversity can benefit the society (Kovalainen and
Högstedt, 2013). For instance, demonstrating the awareness of a patient’s culture can promote trust,
better health care, lead to higher rates of acceptance of diagnoses and improve treatment adherence.
1d) Evaluating the implications of changes in society on the health and social care sector
The implications of changes in society on health and social care sector can be as evaluated.
There are various benefits to the society while implicating the changes on the society. The benefits are
it helps in developing greater self confidence, having more control on their lives and to enhance their
new skills (Kronenfeld, 2015). The other implications which can impact the society are positive role
which improve their lifestyles. The health and social sector is also utilizing their resources which are
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technology upgraded which are giving positive and negative impact to the society. If there is an
advanced technology then the organization will provide better services to the society. If in emergency,
the equipment stops working then it will affect organization as well as the health of the individual of
the society (Latimer and et.al., 2011). By evaluating these implications, the findings are using this
technology, these can be benefited both for the organization and for the individual's health. Its negative
impact is that if it stop working at the time of emergency then it will take toll on the life of people and
affects the cost of organization.
TASK 2
Theoretical perspectives of the reports
The Black Report 1980 and The Whitehead Report 1987 are the same and have the same
conclusions which defines inequalities. The Black Report identified the health related inequalities
whereas Whitehead Report shows the main cause of the inequalities that is social class (Reeves and
et.al., 2011). The report has demonstrated that introducing of the welfare state has improved the overall
health but there are inequalities in health. It also found that the main cause of these inequalities was
economic inequality which lead to the discrimination between the lower and upper class. The health
inequalities are not reducing on the social scale and widening the gap between rich and poor. The
report also reflects on the political thoughts in the United Kingdom and overseas (Saikku and
Karjalainen, 2012). Whereas, The Acheson Report is a nutshell of the The Black Report and Whitehead
Report which concludes that the health inequalities are different in lower and upper social class. The
overall downward trend in morality in upper class is declining as compared to the lower class where
the morality rate is increasing. The other issues in the report has cover the taxation and agriculture.
These reports also conclude that the lower class is only facing the consequences in the health
inequalities.
Explanation of inequalities in health
The type of data used to explain inequalities in health can be through census and stratification.
The census is used for an official count or used for survey the population in terms of demographic
information, their remuneration, health inequality of people etc. The other type of data to identify
inequalities in health is stratification which shows division of classes and categories (Scambler, 2013).
Stratification also constitutes a method that is class structures which divides upper class people from
lower class. The social structure of the United Kingdom is widely known as social class concept. The
class structure of UK is divided in the three class i.e. upper class, middle class and lower class
(Willcocks, 2011). The upper class include elite groups, royal people in which some of the occupations
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include barristers, chief executive officers, directors etc. In middle class, affluent employees and
service sector comes which has medium income income. The lower class people is the working class
who are workers, unskilled employees and poverty stricken. By comparing these all inequalities in
health, it conclude that inequalities between social are increasing and widening the gap between these
classes (Tausig, 2013).
Use of data to understand how social and health issues are socially constructed
It has been identified that wide range of data can be generated with the help of census,
stratification and class structure. Census is a organized process of acquiring and storing the information
about the citizens of country. With the help of census, it can be identified by health care organization
that how many individuals are infected by certain disease. For instance, it state individual suffering
from polio, Aids, swine flu or Ebola virus etc. With the help of this data, proper steps can be taken by
management to spread awareness among population (Sociological, 2015.). Thereafter, stratification is
another technique that help in classifying the collected data from a health care survey into different
categories. Therefore, with the help of stratification, government can classify the collected data into
health care issues in higher and lower class. In the support of this, class structure should be
considered. Further these data reveals the level of health disparities within economy among various
classes. In addition to this aspect, it can be identified which segment of the country is getting
maximum benefit and other which is lacking behind Healthcare Sector, 2016(). Hence, data help in
identifying the loopholes in existing health and care segment so that proper measures can be taken in
future.
Analysing how inequalities in health and social care can impact the individual status and life
chance
The disparities in health and social care have direct affect on the status of individual. Since its
inception that upper classes are getting more benefits and privileges as compared to lower ones which
is resulting into dissatisfaction among individuals. Further, the sector is facing serious issues of
discrimination due to which suffering in lower classes is increasing. Therefore, there is lack of
resources like, hospitals providing care services for free, etc. thereafter, mortality rate is also high in
this sector (Jordan, 2010). Therefore, proper steps should be taken to improve the life chances of the
target group. In this respect, surveys can be conducted that showcase reasons for existing disparities.
The major inequalities are due to income gap between lower and higher groups where poor are unable
to access expensive medical treatment, diagnosis and medicines while rich have easy approach
towards them. By bridging the gap between both the social classes, life expectancy ration of population
can be improved (Aveyard, 2014). The services should be improved for lower classes by organizing
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free medical campaign.
CONCLUSION
Summing up the entire report, it can be concluded that there is difference between health and
social care facility provided by government in lower and higher classes. The major reason for this
difference is due to income and status inequality. It can also be stated that because of this factor
mortality among upper class is declining. It has been identified that health and care data can be
collected through various methods like, census, stratification etc. On the basis of this data, it can be
analysed how existing inequalities affect the individual health status and life chances. It can be
concluded that it has become significant for government to implement change within society.
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REFERENCES
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Bird, C. E. and et.al., 2010.Handbook of medical sociology. Vanderbilt University Press.
Bulmer, M., 2015. The Social Basis of Community Care. Routledge.
Buunk, B. P., Gibbons, F. X. and Buunk, A., 2013. Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from
social comparison theory. Psychology Press.
Gavrielides, T., 2011. Human rights in health and social care. Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and
Social Care . 4(1). pp.28 – 37.
Gulliford, M. and Morgan, M., 2013. Access to health care. Routledge.
Isaac, A. C., 2011. Women leaders: the social world of health care. Journal of Health Organization and
Management. 25(2). pp.159 – 175.
Jordan, M., 2010. Embracing the notion that context is crucial in prison mental health care. The British
Journals of Forensic Practice. 12(4). pp.26 – 35.
Kovalainen, A. and Högstedt, O. J., 2013. Entrepreneurship within social and health care: A question
of identity, gender and professionalism. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.
5(1). pp.17 – 35A.
Kronenfeld, J. J., 2015. Education, Other Social Factors, and Health Beliefs and Health Care Services.,
in Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld., Education, Social Factors, and Health Beliefs in Health and Health
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Latimer, J. and et.al., 2011. Ageing science, health care and social inclusion of older people. Quality in
Ageing and Older Adults. 12(1). pp.11 – 16.
Reeves, S. and et.al., 2011. Interprofessional teamwork for health and social care. John Wiley & Sons.
Saikku, P., Karjalainen, V., 2012. Network governance in activation policy – health care as an
emergent partner. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 32( 5/6). pp.299 – 311.
Scambler, G., 2013. Habermas, critical theory and health. Routledge.
Tausig, M., 2013. The Sociology of Chronic Illness and Self-Care Management, in Jennie Jacobs
Kronenfeld., Social Determinants, Health Disparities and Linkages to Health and Health Care.
Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 31. pp.247 – 272.
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Willcocks, S., 2011. Understanding strategy, change and leadership in UK health and social care.
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