Chapter 11 (Health and Society)

Illness as Deviance: Sociologist Talcott Parsons

1) Parsons' sick role: being sick means that the sufferer enters a role of 'sanctioned deviance'. This is because, from a functionalist perspective, a sick individual is not a productive member of society. Therefore this deviance needs to be policed, which is the role of the medical profession. 2) rights: withdrawal from social obligations Rights The sick are not responsible for their condition. the rights of the 'sick role' - to legitimately withdraw from work and family without loss. temporarily exempt from their normal role obligations. 3) Obligations: get better Responsibilities 1) To want to get well/better, 2) to seek professional advice, follow this advice, and recover quickly 3) Doctors expect patients to cooperate

What are the benefits of a mandatory insurance plan that covers large numbers of people?

1) The costs that will be paid out are fairly predictable. 2) Income and expenses are such that the system is sustainable.

ways to reduce health disparities

1) improve access to health care of minorities 2) inform and empower minority patients 3) improve provider competence in delivering multicultural care 4)Improve the quality of care in health systems that serve large numbers of minority patients 5) Redesign health systems to better meet the needs of minority communities 6) Raise awareness about health care disparities

3 main theories exist that attempt to explain why people with higher socioeconomic status have better health: (STD)

1) selection theory, 2) The theory that social position causes health. (PFM) 3) drift explanation, The theory that social position causes health has three interpretations 1) the psychosocial interpretations, 2) the materialist interpretation, 3) and the fundamental causes interpretation.

What are some of the main provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare"? 5 (All, Low-income, medicaid, 26)

1. insurance for low-income is subsidized 2. risk adjustment based on preexisting conditions is eliminated 3. all americans are required to purchase insurance 4. medicaid eligibility has been expanded 5. young adults on parent plan until 26

Sick Role Theory (2R (not2B) 2O (O2TS) What are the rights and obligations of a sick person, according to Talcott Parsons's theory of the "sick role"?

2R 2O Rights 1) the right not to be held accountable for his or her condition 2) the right to ignore at least some functions of a normal social role obligations 1)the obligation to try to get well 2) the obligation to seek and comply with competent medical advice

Access to Healthcare In The U.S

3 ways: Employer Based Private market Federal government EMPLOYER percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance fell from 59.3 percent in 2007 to 58.5 percent 2008, and the percentage of those working full-time and part-time who lacked health insurance rose in 2008. Employment-based coverage is still the most prominent form of health insurance in the United States at 59.7% of all Americans GOVERNMENT Medicaid (poor); Medicare (elderly) VA benefits Federal Employee plan Military In 2008, enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid rose from a combined 81 million to a combined 85.6 million. Add in military health care, and some 87.4 million Americans in 2008 got health insurance directly from a government source—about 29 percent of the total. SUMMARY Not all insurance is created equal. If you're a top dog at Goldman Sachs, your employer will provide a gold-plated plan and pick up the tab, which can run up to $40,000. If you're a clerk at Whole Foods, your employer will offer a low-premium high-deductible policy—which is great for people who have extra cash and don't have much occasion to use health care services. For most workers, the experience is somewhere in between Private insurance: Few programs pay all costs Religious Health Collectives - Families organize their own system, which operates as a private insurance system

Health

= absence of disease Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Culturally-determined ways of curing illness: Prayer; laying on hands; witchcraft; pharmaceuticals Social inequality affects people's health Health & illness not just matters of biology

Healthcare

= any activity intended to improve health System of social institutions that addresses illness and disease in society

Disease v Illness

DISEASE: biomedical view that sickness is the result of bacteria invading the body. ILLNESS: change in one's ability to meet social expectations

Health Disparities vs Health Care Disparities

Health Disparities - Differences in the prevalence, burden, and outcomes of disease among racial and ethnic groups Health Care Disparities - Racial or ethnic differences in the quality of health care that are not due to differences in health insurance, clinical needs, well-informed patient preferences, or the appropriateness of health care interventions in individual patients

Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Theory

In Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Perspective on Social Interaction, frontstage and backstage are concepts used to describe the relationship between the roles actors play at a given moment and the various audiences these roles involve.

Social determinants of health

Key determinants Income inequality Education levels Physical environment Living /working conditions Social support/networks Shape of health services Health policy Technology Demographic factors (race, gender, age, sexual orientation, SES) Meaning of illness Illness experiences Identity of the patient Patient activism Medical & public health advances

married people

Married people tend to live longer, but it is not clear whether marriage actually benefits a person's health or if healthier people tend to get married. Women live longer than men, which can be attributed in part to the types of illnesses each sex is more susceptible to as well as to how willing each sex is to seek medical care. Large families and children born close together are both associated with higher child mortality rates, due to greater demands on parents' financial and emotional resources.

True

Medical care and health care are not very important predictors of mortality rate, life expectanacy and quality of life.

In which ways has advancing medical knowledge led to progress in the fight against AIDS?

Medication can lessen the likelihood of HIV transmission from mothers to infants. Medication can lessen the likelihood of HIV turning into AIDS. Anti-HIV medications are increasingly affordable.

Medicine ( definition & 3 types)

Medicine = Social institution that focuses on fighting disease and improving health 1) SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE 2) HOLISTIC MEDICINE 3) ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE The rise of scientific medicine Doctors have not always been highly valued in society, but They banded together as professionals and assumed a dominant role in their relationship with hospitals because they were the ones bringing in new patients. since the eighteenth century their power and prestige has steadily grown as they got much better at treating illness and injury (through advances in technology and knowledge). Holistic medicine An approach to health care that emphasizes prevention of illness And takes into account a person's entire physical and social environment Three foundations of holistic health care: Treat patients as people Encourage responsibility, not dependency Provide personal treatment Alternative any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine."[1] It may be based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence. Traditional Eastern medicines (Chinese acupuncture, or Indian), Naturopathy, Homeopathy, and Mind-body medicine (spirit and body)

Social Construction of mental health

Mental illness= disease + Deviance + Label when we think of question social construction of mental illness, so me of the question that comes up 1) how and why are certain behaviors come to be lablled as mentally ill?

Tiger Woods

Sex Addict or Guy with poor self control. when he cheated on his wife, he was labelled as a guy with a sex addiction.

The Hmong people are an ethnic group native to the mountainous regions of mainland Southeast Asia. What is traditional Hmong understanding of epileptic seizures?

The soul briefly leaves the body and visits the spirit world.

In 1977, a change in Social Security policy produced a natural experiment: people born just after January 1, 1917, received reduced benefits compared to people born just a few days earlier. What did the experiment reveal?

There was a negative correlation between greater benefits and longevity.

In which ways is bottled water sold at supermarkets superior to the tap water available in the United States

bottled water is not superior to tap water

What is the difference between dynamic psychiatry and diagnostic psychiatry?

dynamic psychiatry focuses on psychological causes, while diagnostic psychiatry focuses on symptoms

Availability and affordability of medical care are major predictors of life expectancy and quality of life.

false

Sociologist Talcott Parsons developed the concept of

sick role theory, which assigns a sick person two rights and two obligations. Like many other seemingly universal or stable concepts, illness is a social construct—what it means to be sick (or healthy) has changed throughout history and differs from one place to another.

Health and illness: symbolic interactionist perspective

socially constructed-->social meaning and interpretation->identity and social relations socially constructed (HID) 1) Health 2) illness 3) Disease Meaning of health Ideas of health, illness, disease and stress are socially constructed Focus on the meanings that social actors give their illness or diseases and how these meanings emerge, change over time & why. E.G. self control vs disease. How people define a condition might actually affect how they feel & social identity (self-concept) and relationship with others. E.G. Stigma & HIV/AIDs

Medicalization

the process by which certain events or characteristics of everyday life become medical issues, and thus come within the purview of doctors and other health professionals to engage with, study, and treat The process of medicalization typically involves changes in social attitudes and terminology, and usually accompanies (or is driven by) the availability of treatments eg..misbehaving child in need of discipline or child with ADHD Defining or labeling behaviors and conditions as medical problems. Includes: A new phenomena defined as a medical problem in need of medical intervention such as post-traumatic stress disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Normal conditions that are defined as medical problems such as childbirth, menopause, and death.