Sociology of Health

Question: Discuss about a Report for Sociology of Health. Answer: As stated by "World Health Organization" Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." In other words, health can be defined as the extent of efficacy regarding metabolism and functionality of living organism. There are various determinants of health such as social status, income, social environment, physical environment, working condition, genetics, culture, gender, and education. In order to get cured of an unhealthy condition, the health practitioners recommend medicine. According to the medical model, medicine is a technical tool to fix broken bodies. The medical practices have helped to understand the power of biomedical dissertation of health and illness, and also these practices have helped to fix the concepts socially. In this report the sociological aspect of health and illness will be discussed, and the extent of social control exercised by the medical profession will also be illustrated. The proper definition of health has advanced with time. The early concept of health-focused mainly on the theme related to the body's ability to work and the health was thought to a normal state of one's body whose function may get interrupted anytime by disease. In the year 1980 during the health promotion movement, WHO revised the definition of the term health. It was stated that it is a concept to reflect the extent of realization about the desires and satisfaction of needs by an individual. The mental, emotional, intellectual and social health is terms which are referred to the capability of a person to cope up with stress, maintain relationships, and achieve skills. All these form resources for a liberal and resiliency are living. In medical sociology there is a term used to denote sickness and also the right and compulsions of an unhealthy individual are known as sick role. The sick role is decisively depending on the reciprocities of a robustly capitalist accomplishment society which notifies normative prospects in the sector of health and illness. The sick role theory was conceptualized by Talcott Parsons in the year 1951. According to this researcher, the "sick role" was observed as a state of deviance where the individual will have an absence of the usual standards in terms of the social behavior. According to the "sick role theory," every individual is considered and expected to be productive participants in the society. However, in situations where an individual is sick, his or her absence or incapability to carry out her work will be considered as deviance and it will also be approved by the society. In order to sanction the deviance of a person, the certification from a medical expert is necessary since such a process legitimates the illness of the concerned person. There are two rights and two responsibilities of an ill person. First of all, a person has the right for which that person cannot be blamed for his or her sickness and secondly the right to provide any leeway for someone else as normal obligations. The two responsibilities of a patient involve prioritizing the fact of getting well and seeking for a proper clinical treatment for his or her health condition. Such rights and responsibilities are therefore temporary and only applicable for an individual when he or she is sick. The Sick role theory offers an insight into an experience that has an impact on every individual of the community at one point or the other in their life. The sick role theory aims at treating an individual and thereby relieving that patient from his or her social duties and responsibilities. Talcott Parsons was a sociologist who examined the relationship between a doctor and a patient. He analyzed the response of the society and its smooth functioning to the issues of deviance. According to him the roles and responsibilities of a doctor and his patient is represented as an ideal model. He stated that the role of an ill person includes four normal expectations. First of they might need to give up certain normal activities, secondly, they are considered to be one who needs care. Thirdly, the desire to get well as soon as possible and lastly, seeking clinical advice from the doctor by maintaining a healthy relationship are the roles of a patient. In terms of the roles of a doctor the role is quite complementary to the role of the patient. As the patients need to cooperate with the medical professionals, the role of the doctors is to provide their knowledge and skills in order to serve their patient and also act in regards to the welfare of the community rather than working for their own interest. One significant feature that is expected from a medical practitioner is that he or she should not be emotionally attached to his or her patient rather he or she should be objective about his work and should be completely guided by the set of rules of the medical practices. An important determinant of the nature of doctor patient relationship is the clinical practices of the doctor. In the present days it has been observed that due to the elevation in the general practice number along with the involvement of the nurses, counselors, health visitors, etc. in the primary care have introduced complications and challenges in achieving a go od inter-professional communication to maintain the quality of care. The term social control has come from the concept of sociological adaptation put forwarded by the Darwin. There have been several theories given on social control. With the advent and growth in the field of the medicine, it is considered that there is a specific medical treatment for all types of illness whether it is a physical or mental illness. Therefore, a person who fails to put himself or herself in the hands of a right medical professional is considered to be guilty. Report states the medical or the paramedical professionals are more immune to corruption than the judicial professionals. One of the biggest determinants of health is society. History reveals the fact that Drapetomania is a mental disorder that has originated from plantation of slaves in the U.S. This proofs that social environment plays an important role in health of a community. Early days people were alert on criticizing traditional medical outlook was as being value-laden and highlighted the social control exerted by health professionals through the practice of medicine. Only during the 1980s, biomedical models physiological aspects were focused. According to Marxism, the medical profession on examination reveals the use of power and prestige by involving the use of medical terminology to exclude the subordinates. Although the field of medicalization has been a blessing to the society, there are many scholars who criticize this for causing disregard and overarching of the social attires. The present physicians acts authoritatively and control the patients health matters. But in the current generatio n the patients economy has changed thus once who were the passive victims of clinical trials, now occupy active place in participating in making clinical decisions. The aim of a medical professional should be provide best of the medical treatment to their patients by applying their clinical skills and best of their knowledge. Poor medical care is similarly dysfunctional for civilization, as public those who are ill countenance greater complexity in becoming healthy and individual who are well are more probable to fall ill. According to Parsons theory on sick role, sickness is a state which can be exploited but patient themselves sometimes allow them to get exploited. For example the medical practitioners, health insurance companies, etc. bring about the exploitation. The field of medicine has been has been a boon to the society. Within the few years the society has experienced diversity in the clinical field and new therapies, tools and medicines has been invented to treat diseases that had no answer in the past. In the present generation, the doctors provide best medical treatments to the patients in partnership with the medical agencies. The inequality that existed previously is no more in terms of profession or social status which was evident in the history of British welfare state. The circumstances have changed, and the medical profession has proved to be successful for various accomplishments. In the past all the economics was regarded as political economy and the economists accepted the parameters within which markets work were determined by history and politics. The "political economy" of one's health refers to an organisms body of examination and a viewpoint on health policy that seeks to appreciate the circumstances which form populace health and service growth within the broader macro economic and political framework. The economic growth leads to development and elevation of the resources for health and vice-versa. The existing health care financing system, a community accustomed to instant access to experts and skill, and our communal eagerness for technical novelty as the major evaluate of development for the health system may guide to inertia and chunk change. Health can be defined as the extent of efficacy in terms of metabolism and functionality of living organism. There are various determinants of health such as social status, income, social environment, physical environment, working condition, genetics, culture, gender, and education. The medical practices have helped to understand the power of biomedical dissertation of health and illness, and also these practices have helped to fix the concepts socially. The "sick role theory" was conceptualized by Talcott Parsons in the year 1951. According to this researcher, the "sick role" was observed as a state of deviance where the individual will have an absence of the usual standards in terms of the social behavior. Both the doctor and the patient have certain roles and responsibilities to achieve success in terms of health. The field of medicine has been having been a boon to the society. Within the few years, the society has experienced diversity in the clinical field and new therapies, to ols and medicines have been invented to treat diseases that had no answer in the past. Thus it can be concluded that the progress in medicine, for both individual and community health, has forever depended significantly on information from and concerning individuals. References: Ayres, T.C. and Bond, J.W., 2012. A chemical analysis examining the pharmacology of novel psychoactive substances freely available over the internet and their impact on public (ill) health. Legal highs or illegal highs?.BMJ open,2(4), p.e000977. Berk, M., Berk, L., Dodd, S., Fitzgerald, P.B., de Castella, A.R., Filia, S., Filia, K., Brnabic, A.J., Kelin, K., Montgomery, W. and Kulkarni, J., 2013. 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