Sociological Perspective View of Health and Illness - Assignment Example

Health Inequality Name Professor Institution Course Date Health Inequality Question One Sociological Perspective View of Health and Illness Health is considered to be a condition of fitness that is characterized by mental, physical and emotional well-being of an individual. The understanding of health from any given perspective is directed to establishment of healthy body which is highly influenced by the nature of environment or the stability of the mind of a respective individual. Well-being of an individual is featured by the status of being disease or disorder free and more importantly on the emotional and mental stability of a person (Muntaner et al, 2004: 53). On the other hand, illness is considered to be the unstable state of a human being from the mental, physical and emotional viewpoint. This implies that an individual is considered to be ill or sick in situation where the biological functioning, the mental stability and the physical status of a human body are not normal. Medicine is perceived to be a social institution that diagnoses, treats and offers preventive measures to diseases and other maladies that cause ill-health in human body. Medicine is highly dependent on various social sciences and scientific disciplines such as chemistry, biology, physics and technical sciences like engineering because the combination of these sciences helps the medical professionals and specialists to devise appropriate measures to address diseases that cause ill-health. More importantly, they aid in establishment of preventive criterion to control and curb various factors and influencers that trigger development of illness and disorders in human body. Sociology takes the assumption that the productivity of a society immensely depend on the health of people, and the ability of the surrounding or environment to control illness (Rickwood & Braithwaite, 2004: 563). From different understandings directed towards ill-health or sickness, scientists and sociologist described a sick individual to be a person who is not accountable for being sick, who is not answerable for normal duties, who dislikes the role of being sick, and an individual who struggles to get assistance to get rid of the role of being sick. Every society allows individuals who satisfy the conditions to be perceived as sick, but no society supports individuals who like being sick, who intentionally get involved in activities that cause their sickness, and who do not make any effort of seeking treatment from reliable medical facilities. Every human being feels sympathy for the unhealthy persons, but the compassion towards these sick people is developed if they are observed to be making efforts to seek medical help. However, the compassion or the feeling to help the unhealthy individuals is narrowed in situations where the sick persons show no sign of helping oneself get hold of the sick-role. There are different approaches that can be used to derive the differences and similarities of how various sociological perspectives view health and illness. Considering the social structural approach where the societies are considered to be objective realities, it is evident that social structural approaches are supported by the empiricist sociologists who have the perception that an objective science of society can be achieved in a similar way that physical science is achieved. The approaches focus at describing the beliefs of social life with respect to different exclusive linear fundamental influences. Principally social structural approaches are built from quantitative data that is extracted from social assessment, epidemiological investigations and comparative experiments as a way of determining the comparative pressure of societal structures and procedures involved in establishing health results for specific social groups (Locher, Ritchie, Roth, Baker, Bodner & Allmann, 2005: 747). From sociological viewpoint, there are two fundamental theoretical perspectives that try to connect human health and illness to societal structures, and these are structural functionalism and structural Marxism. In order to understand the relationship between the two perspectives to health and illness, it is essential to establish one societal issue, parameter or influencer that contribute to healthy or ill society; say poverty. Poverty is the state of a society or individual having limited resources to support life and control the productivity of the people in the society such as lack of basic needs like food, water, shelter and clothing and secondary needs (Hermalin, 2002: 1-3). Poverty is a major limiting factor to attainment of healthy and productive society, because inability of people in a society to meet their basic needs is an indication that there are low chances of fighting an epidemic in the society. In connection to structural functionalism as a sociological perspective that determines the health and illness of a society, poverty can be understood in the context of social stratification and unequal distribution of resources linked to complex economies. This is applicable where different responsibilities and roles are executed by differing groups contained by the society. It is observed that some people are more productive and dynamic than others due to differences in knowledge and skills of performing similar tasks, and thus there is huge gap between the contributions of the two groups to the functioning of the society. According to Rickwood and Braithwaite (2004), illness is a social incident relatively to an entirely physical condition, while health is “The state of optimum capacity of an individual for the effective performance of the roles and tasks for which s/he has been socialized” (Rickwood & Braithwaite, 2004: 563). From functionalist perspective health is a prerequisite for effective and efficient functioning of a given society, implying that sickness is brought forth by the inability of people in a society to fulfill their roles and responsibilities in the society. On the other hand, from the Marxist viewpoint, poverty is understood from the class structure where groups of people in a society are categorized depending on the relationship of social groups within a consumerist system of monetary production involving exploiters and the subjugated. The basic contention of this sociological perspective is that material production is the most significant achievement among other human activities ranging from the basic needs to excess invention of products and services in the modern consumerist and commercial societies. The health of people or a society from this perspective is determined by the economic base where a society is able to establish a superstructure of a society which is evident to integrate various elements such as political, security, learning and health systems among others (Fryers et al, 2003: 277). The approach is applied in medical sector in investigation of the origin of diseases, and the health of a population in a society is greatly influenced directly by the industrial diseases and disorders, and/or stress-related ill health as people strive to fit in the modern societies. Additionally, it is influenced indirectly by the effects of production processes of goods and services to suit the needs of the society through processes such as pollution, accidents and chemical additives among others. The level of distribution also influences the health of people in the sense that income and wealth have been confirmed to be the core determinants of the standards of surviving (Muntaner et al, 2004: 55). The other sociological perspectives that can be used to relate health and illness are with inclusion of symbolic interactionist perspective which relates health and illness to language and communication, and social constructionist perspective which relates health and illness to knowledge and applicability of knowledge and skills in problem solving; both social knowledge and scientific knowledge. Question Two Variations in Health and Illness in United Kingdom United Kingdom is considered to be a stable country in terms of social, political, legal, educational systems and health systems, an indication that it can be categorized as a developed country like United States and China among other developed countries. This implies that there is even distribution of resources, and the gap between the social classes in the country is very narrow as compared to developing and underdeveloped countries. It can be argued that the discernment of health and illness in developed countries is different from the perception of health and illness in developing, and consequently underdeveloped countries, tuberculosis, for example, is killing more people in societies that are poor and lack proper health facilities. This is due to differences in the resources available, productivity of the societies in the respective countries, and more importantly utilization of knowledge and skills in improving productivity and in solving societal problems. In addition, London, a city in the United Kingdom has the highest tuberculosis infections than any other city in Western Europe (Herbert, 2013: 1). The applicability of the sociological perspectives in one society differs from other societies due to these among other factors such as the ability of the societies to meet basic needs and establish a healthy environment irrespective of the external factors like climatic conditions. Considering the differences in health and illness in United Kingdom, the populations in the country are aware of the measures and strategies that they can integrate in their operations to improve the health of the societies through reduction of risks that may trigger illnesses such as tuberculosis. People in the UK, including professionals in different fields with inclusion of medicine, believe that the systems of operations in the country are fair. This however, can be considered as a false consciousness because in one situation or another, there are social variations when it comes to diseases such as tuberculosis, which has killed many people (Herbert, 2013:1). Health in UK is characterized by the productivity of individual population, and the ability of the populations to participate in activities that lower the chances of developing ill health in the country. In establishment of healthy environment in UK, societies are evident to emphasize on significant stability and cooperation within its environments and this is supported by the responsibilities and role individual citizen or investor performs in development of continuity within the societies. The rules and operational systems of the country are effectively and efficiently translated into roles, and this greatly aids in increasing the productivity of the country to avoid ill health resulting from industrial diseases such as injuries and stress-related health disorders due to inability to compete in the modern societies. It is essential to consider various elements linked to health in UK, and later investigate those related to illness to be able to understand the variation between health and illness in the country. The country is among the participants of World health organization whose focus is to improve the health of poor and disadvantaged people in the country (Herbert, 2013:1). This is achieved through promotion of healthy lifestyles such as environmental, monetary, social and appropriate healthcare services and products to the people. The health of people in the country in general is considered to be high as compared to other countries across the world. The country has the lowest levels of people suffering from hypertension due to the cultural beliefs observed in UK, and since it is highly linked to stroke and heart disorders, the country is able to minimize the risks of these chronic diseases. It is evident that before people in UK seek treatment, they consult within themselves to find a solution, and only when there are no possible positive solutions that they seek medical attention. This is an indication that people tend to use their knowledge and skills to address health issues. Research has showed that people in the country seek medical help under some conditions, which are with inclusion of: a. The happening of an interpersonal catastrophe b. Superficial intrusion with social and private relations c. Alleged obstruction with occupational and physical activity, d. Authorization from by other people e. Sufferers thoughts about the duration to which specific challenges should last This is an illustration that health is given the core priority in UK as a way of making patients realize the activities or practices that they get involved in to cause health complications. Additionally, studies have revealed that some patients, depending on their understanding of health and illness completely follow the doctors’ instructions, while others completely ignore them. On the other hand, considering the perspective of UK societies on illness such as tuberculosis, it has been observed that the modern medical practice in the country tend to exclude the social, psychological and experimental dimensions of illness. This is a confirmation that most of the population has the perception that illness is brought about by issues or activities that can be avoided, and instead of seeking medical attention, they investigate the cause, devise appropriate measures to address the issues, and implement the possible solutions. There are however, other negative perceptions such as tuberculosis being a disease for the poor, which hinders treatment (Herbert, 2013:1). The country however, experiences variation in diseases such as tuberculosis. It is realized from different sociological viewpoints such as gender differences and their understanding towards the causes of illness, and geographic variations where people in specific regions where certain disease is detected strive to find treatment measures before spread. There is also the perception that tuberculosis is associated with poverty (Herbert, 2013:1). Additionally, variations in ethnic groups with respect to health and illness has greatly helped in establishment of a healthy environment in UK because diseases linked to specific ethnic group are investigated from the cultural perspectives, and this enables the researchers and medical professionals to determine the history of the cause, thus establishment of the treatment. Question Three Analysis of the Sociological Explanations of Inequality in Health and Illness in UK There are various sociological perspectives that are linked to health and illness. These are well described by structural functionalist, Marxist, symbolic interactionist perspective and social constructionist perspective. The inequalities are associated with distribution of health and health care and accessibility of health services in a society. They include inequalities connected to social class and even gender (Carol, 2007: 47). These inequalities are also connected to gender. It has also been observed that these health and illness inequalities are connected to culture and ethnicities, and more importantly, their causes. Health and illness inequalities are avoidable discriminates between people of different societies, ethnicities, and also between people with different social and economic situations. This implies that the social and economic differences determine the levels of risk of illnesses. They also determine the actions taken to prevent people from becoming ill. They also determine the measures or treatment approaches to be used when illness is realized. Considering the situation in UK, the populations in the country have differences in terms of class, color, cultures, ages and gender. There are some illnesses that are observed to affect each category than the other, and the measures taken to address these ill-heaths differ with the categories. This in return causes health and illness inequalities in the country. In order to address these health and illness inequalities in the country, the government is considered to be the fundamental organ in the sense that it funds for the operations and activities aimed at controlling ill-health. Another sociological perspective evident in the country with respect to health and illness is that the poorest of the poor in the country are observed to have the worst health. However, the situation in UK is much better than in developing and underdeveloped countries. The social gradient in health in all countries and societies has been confirmed from studies to run from top to bottom of the socioeconomic continuum. This implies that health inequalities affect every population irrespective of the social group or gender where a specific population falls (Vlassoff & Garcia Moreno, 2012: 1713). Social determinants of health, from a sociological perspective are considered to be circumstances that are shaped by combination of forces such as politics, social expectations and economics. These social determinants have been confirmed to be causing health and illness inequality not only in UK but also in other countries across the world for example Asia where the elderly receive poor health (Hermalin, 2002: 1). The social determinants are closely linked to the numerous drivers of health and illness inequalities such as income, occupation, gender and race among others such as age and vulnerability of different populations to ill health and the repercussions of ill health in the society. The government and individual citizens need to be aware of the causes of health and illness inequalities to be able to devise and implement appropriate measures that can improve the health through reduction of risks to ill-health. Families too should be at the center of health services by providing care to all (Devault, 2000: 39) References Carol, V. 2007. Gender Differences in Determinants and Consequences of Health and Illness. J Health Popul Nutr. 25 (1), pp. 47-61 DeVault, M. 2000. Feeding the family: the social organization of caring and gendered work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp.39. Fryers, T., Melzer, D. & Jenkins, R. 2003. Social inequalities and the common mental disorders. Soc Psychiatr Psychiatr Epidemiol. 38, pp. 277–95. Herbert, N. (2013). The Fight against TB is not over. [online] 1st December, p. 1. Available from http:// the guardian. Co. UK. [Accessed 20th November 2014] Hermalin, A. 2002. the Well-being of the elderly in Asia a four-country comparative study. University of Michigan Press. pp. 1–3 Locher, J. L., Ritchie, C. S., Roth, D. L., Baker, P. S., Bodner, E. V. & Allmann, R. M. 2005. 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