A Sociological Examination of Health: Perspectives, Models, and Issues

This essay delves into the sociology of health, examining how social factors influence health outcomes and healthcare systems. It begins by providing a historical overview of the sociology of health and medicine in Australia, highlighting the influence of the social model of health and the impact of socioeconomic disparities on life expectancy. The essay then analyzes health inequalities among indigenous and non-indigenous populations, citing factors like social determinants, historical events, and economic conditions. It proceeds to explore three key sociological perspectives: the functionalist perspective, emphasizing the importance of good health for societal functioning and the concept of the sick role; the conflict approach, highlighting inequalities in health and healthcare, and the potential for physicians to control medical practices; and the symbolic interaction approach, which considers health and illness as socially constructed. The essay provides examples and critiques of each perspective, offering a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between society and health.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociological Perspective on Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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The Sociology of Health and Medicine in Australia started in early 20th century and it
was regarded as the formative years because the independent departments of sociology were
not being established in Australia until 1950s. The earliest form of sociology emerged within
other departments of Australia, Workers Educational Association (WEA). The year between
1950s and 1960s experienced inter-disciplinarity and collaboration. This year also
experienced an emergence of Australian Journal of Social Issues (1961) and Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Sociology (1965). The year of late 1960s and1970s experienced
intensification and organisation. This period saw the development of Melbourne based
Medical Sociology Group. The year of 1980s lead to the establishment of institutional growth
and specialization. During 1990s there occurred consolidation among fragmentation. Finally
in between 2000 to 2010 is a special decade in sociology which leads to the
internationalisation (Collyer, 2011).
As per the social model of health, health in influenced by a number of factors
including individual health perspectives, interpersonal health backup, organisation backdrop,
social framework, political context and other economic factors. In Australia, marginalised
people who fall under the bracket of the low socio-economic community have shorter life
span 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 difficult
scenario 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 social
status, 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 personal
health practises. Complex interactions between these factors lead to a generation of dramatic
difference in the health backup among the people or population who lies under different
sociological environment. For example there are significant discrepancies in health among
the indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia. In comparison to the non-indigenous
counterpart, indigenous people suffer a lot in health inequalities. There are more reported
cases of indigenous children being hospitalised for infectious disease like pneumonia than
that of on-indigenous people. Moreover, indigenous people encountered higher mortality
rates among the non-indigenous children. Not only disease, indigenous children are more
likely to get hospitalised due to physical assault (the incidence are encountered more among
the girls than that of the boys). Indigenous people due to the lack of proper hygienic backup

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suffer 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 higher
incidence of single mother. These single mothers encounter higher consumption of alcohol
and smoking leading to complications during pregnancy. On the other hand, the indigenous
mothers who live in urban areas have lower rates of breastfeeding (Germov, 2005).
This backdrop of poor health condition is an outcome of several complex social
factors. Apart from social factors, there also several historical, economic and environmental
factors like racism, depression, trauma, dispossession and internal generational trauma
(Bowes & Grace, 2014) which are responsible of severe health inequalities among indigenous
people in Australia. According to Yuill, Crinson and Duncan, there six significant features
based on the social models of health
1. Health of an individual is either inhibited or enabled by social context. Although
the choice of a people are dependent on their behaviour and internal psychological backup
but 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 taken
into consideration.
3. The possible outcome of health is not solely dependent on the disease prognosis
and symptoms. The manner in which the scenario of health condition is being perceived and
simultaneously experienced with respect to disease and illness vary from culture to culture
and socio-economic backdrop.
4. Biomedicine and medical science may be different sectors in health but are not
unrelated; there exist an inherent integrity between the two concepts.
5. There is a political connection in health. Significant political decision and process
impact health and the well being on an individual and influence the social determinants in
health.
6. It is important to listen and vouch for the decisions, opinions of the people who are
lying outside the healthcare domain in order to get a clear and unbiased view of the health
domain.

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Sociological perspective in health care is based on three principle theories. The
Functionalist Perspective vouches for effective medical care and good health. This concept
considers these two factors essential for a functioning society. Bad health impairs person
ability to perform their defined roles in the society and if a significant number of people in
the society are unhealthy, the proper equilibrium in the society gets hampered as the stability
suffers. This concept is extensively significant in case of premature death. Premature death
prevents individuals from performing their social roles and thus provides “poor return” to the
society in several domain including pregnancy, birth and childcare. Lack of proper medical
care is also dysfunctional for a society as the residents of the society who are suffering from
illness experience greater problems in becoming a healthy individual. On the other hand,
people who are healthy are more likely to fall ill. Several expectations must be taken into
consideration in order to consider a person to consider legitimately sick. According to
Parsons, these exceptions can be defined under the banner of sick role. First and foremost, a
sick person should never be perceived to be responsible for their own health problem. If
someone prefers high fat diet and simultaneously becomes obese or encounters a cardiac
arrest, he or she gets less sympathy than the person who has observed a healthy diet regime
throughout the life. On the other hand, if someone encounters an accident upon drunk
driving, there is significantly less sympathy than the person who is sober and has been
skidded off the road during a snowy weather. Secondly, sick people must have a
psychological thought process or an urge to get well. If they lack that urge of getting well,
they are perceived as faking their illness. Such people are also at times malign after becoming
healthy. They are no longer considered to be ill by the people of in their family or more
generally by the society itself. Thirdly sick people are people are considered to abide by the
instructions given by the doctors in order to recover fast. If a sick person is found violating
the instructions of the health care professionals then, he or she again looses the right of
performing the sick role. If all these expectations are successfully met, sick people are treated
well by their family, gets sympathy from the society and are exempted from the normal
obligations of the healthy people. At times they are excused and are allowed to stay in bed
when they want to remain active. In the middle of all these, physicians also have a significant
role to perform. They are required to diagnose the reason behind patient’s illness, and then
decide how to treat that illness and then simultaneously help the patient to recover. But in
order to do so, they require Active Corporation from the patient and his or her family. A
patient must cooperate with the doctor by answering his queries and then follow-up with him
as per his instructions. According to Parsons, there exist a hierarchy among the physician and

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patient, the physician gives orders and the patients abide by accordingly. Parsons has right
described the importance of individuals’ good health for the society but his health
perspectives have been criticised for several reasons. Firstly, his basic idea of sick role is
generally applicable for the acute or short term illness than that of chronic or long term
illness. Secondly, Parson’s discussion ignores that the social background is also responsible
for a person’s well being. It also determines the probability of becoming ill and the quality of
medical care that will be received by that ill person. Thirdly, Parson wrote in for the
hierarchy existence among patient and doctors relationship. However several experts of today
are of the opinion that the patients here must take initiatives to reduce this hierarchy via
asking more questions about their present health condition to their physicians and via active
participation in maintaining their health and wellness.
The Conflict Approach emphasizes the existence of inequality in health and the heal
care model as proposed by Weitz in the year 2013. There is a significant difference in the
quality of health and health care round the world. The inequities prevalent among the social
class, ethnicity, race and gender are reproduced in the backdrop of health of an individual and
in the health care model. People who are residing in socially disadvantaged backgrounds are
more likely to become ill. Moreover, once they fall sick, inadequate care in the health domain
make creates barrier in the path of speedy recover. The conflict approach also critically judge
the efforts taken by the physicians over the past decades to control the medicinal practise and
define prevalent social and medical problems. The good motivation of the physicians in
delivering quality care is they are believed to be the most qualified personnel in the society
having the best right to diagnose and treat a patient. The negative side is, they have also
significantly recognised that their financial status will escalate if they start characterising the
social dilemmas and medical problems and this monopolization of the treatment hit hard the
health care domain. There are several examples that clearly illustrate this conflict theory.
Personalised medicine is gradually becoming popular but on the other side, it is being
critically judged by the medical establishment. Doctors at times may honestly fell that the use
of personalised medicines or medical alternatives are inadequate, dangers and ineffective but
on the other hand, they also know that application of these alternatives are financially
important fr their medical practise. Girls or women who suffer from eating disorder receive
active help from the physician, psychiatrist or other health care professionals. The care
however is helpful but the definition of eating disorder provides a huge source of income for
these medical professionals who treat this disorder and obscures its strong cultural roots

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within the society’s standard definition of beautiful women (Whitehead & Kurz, 2008). In the
field of obstetrical care, towards the end of 19th century, physicians claimed that they are
better persons to provide quality care to the pregnant women at the time of child delivery than
that of the midwives. The conflict statement lies in the fact that the doctors might have
honestly felt that the midwives are inadequately trained but on the other hand they also have
fully recognised lucrative side of the obstetrical care (Whitehead & Kurz, 2008). Hyperactive
children and now treated with Ritalin =, hyperactive drug but previously these children are
only considered as overly active. It can be sated that the definition of the active behaviour as
a medical problem was indeed lucrative for the doctors and also for the company that has
developed Ritalin (Conrad, 2008; Rao & Seaton, 2010). According to the critique, the
assessment of the conflict approach and simultaneous criticism of the doctor’s motivation is
far too cynical. Scientific medicines are indeed helped in the improvement of the life
expectancy of human race in the earth. However, physicians are also normal individuals who
get motivated by economical consideration. Their hard efforts to stretch their scope into
previous nonmedical areas can also generate from honest believe that the life of the mankind
will improve if these efforts succeeded.
The Symbolic Interaction Approach considers health and illness as the social
constructions. It signifies that mental and physical conditions have no significance in
objective reality. A person is considered healthy or ill if they are similarly acknowledged by
the members of the society (Buckser, 2009; Lorber & Moore, 2002). Like only after the
invention of the drugs that the disease regarding hyperactive children becomes popular and is
simultaneously recognised by the society. Obesity is now a health risk but according to the
“fat pride” movement, participated by obese individuals stated that the health risk associated
with obesity are exaggerated in order to call the attention of the society’s discrimination
against obese people (Diamond, 2011). Critics have found fault in the symbolic interaction
approach because it has amplified that there is no objective reality behind any illness. There
are several serious health conditions that exist among the human race and people are at risk of
developing such deadly diseases regardless of their social background or the society thinks
about such diseases. In spite of having several faults in the symbolic interaction, the
sociological approach states that the concept of health and illness do have a subjective
correlation and objective reality between each other.

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Figure: Summary of the Sociological Perspective on Health and Health Care
(Source: Sociological Perspectives on Health and Health Care, 2017)
As per my knowledge, the theoretical perspective outlines in this chapter is based on
their ability to deliver critical perspectives over the complex relationships between peoples
experience over illness and their location in wider social structures. The biggest factor that I
think will possibly impact on the healthcare practise is the inequalities in social position and
the concept behind the institution of medicine. In spite of significant changes in the medical
sociology model, there exist a distinct sociological hierarchy and commercial as well as
statutory roles played by the medicines. As per my understanding, the medical sociology
merits should depend in the understanding the enthusiasm of the scientific innovations in
medicine and technology without getting dazzled by the salutary potential while keeping the
sight of its proper implications in terms of equal social justice (Johnson, Dandeker &
Ashworth, 1984).

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