Study guide
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
2
Explores the relationship between society
and the body
E.g., sociology of medicine, discovering global
patterns of disease
Examines the ways that cultural and social
factors affect health and other conditions of
the body (see next slide, “Let’s Move”)
Sociologists know that the causes of eating
disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia,
and obesity reflect social factors more than
physical or biological factors because they are
very recent health problems.
3
The message is that while
individuals must learn to
make responsible choices
regarding diet and
activity, there are also
social factors involved,
particularly when it
comes to the provision of
healthy opportunities.
Which of the following best describes the field known as
“sociology of the body”?
• It investigates the increasing use of such devices as cell
phones, pagers, and hand-held computing devices that
make it possible for people to communicate over large
distances.
• It investigates anything we use to adorn our bodies, such as
glasses, watches, and jewelry.
• It investigates any kind of regular intervention we make into
the functioning of our bodies in order to alter them in
specific ways.
• It investigates how and why our bodies are affected by our
social experiences and the norms and values of the groups
to which we belong. (correct)
5
Processes that were once natural, or biological,
are now influenced by social forces and social
decisions.
“Nature” depends on our own social decisions
E.g., reproduction
Phenomena that used to be “natural,” or given by
nature (such as the circumstances under which a
woman can get pregnant), have now become
“social”—they depend on our own social decisions
(such as coming off the birth control pill or not using
condoms).
6
What is the “socialization of nature”?
the manipulation of the Earth’s natural resources
to obtain social needs and desires
the public ownership of natural resources
the process whereby we interact with nature and
animals
the process by which we control phenomena
regarded as “natural” (correct)
7
Thinking sociologically
about the body
Discussion: Use your
sociological imagination
to compare and contrast
the stories of these two
women.
In earlier periods of human history, food really
was a means of survival
It is now much more than that in wealthy
societies. Eating is a highly social behavior.
Our relationship to food has proved to be
unhealthy in many ways.
A dual example of a sociological approach to
understanding the body: our relationship with food.
Eating disorders
Obesity
9
Society frames femininity and beauty in a
particularly way
Women, particularly young women, desire to fit
that ideal
Societal ideals and women’s desires affect the
body
Vast majority with eating disorders are women
(90%)
95% are between the ages of 12 and 26
20% of anorexics will die from anorexia
10
We are quite conscious of our weight
25% of men and 45% of women are dieting
60% of girls age 13 have dieted
Over 80% of girls age 18 have dieted
Something in our culture compels us to organize
our relationship with food in a this way.
Over 60 percent of adult Americans now have a score of over 25,
which indicates they are overweight.
Over 30 percent fall into the obese category.
These numbers have climbed dramatically in recent years.
BMI = 703 x ____weight ___
height x height
_____________________________________
Note: Weight in pounds, and height in inches.
Category
BMI Range
Underweight
< 18.5
Normal weight
18.5–24.9
Overweight
25.0–29.9
Obese I
30.0–34.9
Obese II
35.0–39.9
Obese III (Morbidly Obesity)
40.0 +
__________________________________________________
Source: National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute 1998.
12
1990: 0 states > 15% obese
2010: 36 states > 25% obese
2010: 0 states < 20% obese
How could this have happened? (see next
slide)
13
The way in which our time and activities are
structured is clearly related to our now
dangerous relationship to food
Factors that contribute to what has become an
epidemic of obesity
Our lives are more sedentary than ever before
Our food is prepackaged and prepared
We are in a near-constant hurry
Portions are huge
Advertisements are virtually hypnotic
Children no longer spend their days outside running
around.
Which of the following is a part of the
“obesogenic environment”
Jobs that require us to sit all day long
Children who are more likely to sit in front of a
computer or television rather than play outdoors
Parents who often turn to unhealthy fast food due
to hectic work and family schedules
Restaurants that provide enormous serving sizes at
low prices to lure bargain-seeking customers
All of the above (correct)
In wealthy Western countries like the United
States, poverty is closely associated with obesity
Foods that are fresh and healthy are also
expensive.
Foods that are cheap tend to be low in nutrition
but high in calories.
The diets of those living in poverty in the United
States are typically very high in carbohydrates and
low in fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein.
There is a powerful stigma attached to obesity.
Obesity is stigmatized since it is devalued and
labeled by society as undesirable.
Mathilda is morbidly obese. She regularly has
problems interacting with her family, friends, and
strangers due to the stereotypes that abound
regarding her illness. She even lost a job once
because she could no longer accept the degrading
comments made by her coworkers and boss
regarding what they perceived as her moral failings
for being so obese.
The body is very often influenced by society
In negative ways
Cultural messages leading to eating disorders
Organization of society (e.g., high cost of healthy food)
leading to obesity
In positive ways
Renewed calls for physical fitness leading to healthier
lifestyles
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
19
The functionalist school of sociology sees
society as usually operating in a smooth and
consensual manner.
Some situations are dysfunctional
Illness is a situation of dysfunction and that people who
are ill will try to adapt in ways to minimize any social
disruption. (see next slide)
We are all socialized into the basic expectations of the
sick role throughout our lives, and as a result playing it
is second nature.
Others know how to respond to us, because they, too,
have been socialized in the sick role and the
appropriate responses.
The sick role has three basic expectations:
she is not responsible for her poor health
she is not expected to perform normal work and home
duties
she is expected to do everything within reason to get well
21
Some sociologists have criticized Talcott
Parsons’s notion of the “sick role” because it
cannot be applied across all contexts, cultures,
and historical periods.
There are exceptions, particularly to the first of
those expectations.
There are certain illnesses that do not receive the benefit
of not being held responsible and thereby miss out on
the other advantages of the sick role.
People with HIV/AIDS, for example, are often heavily
stigmatized and blamed for their disease.
According to the text, which assumption below
would probably NOT follow from Talcott
Parsons’s notion of the “sick role”?
A sick person should not be personally blamed for
being ill.
A sick person should consult a physician.
A sick person should not have to work or go to
school.
A sick person should stay in bed.
A sick person should be isolated from society. 4
Symbolic interactionist study the ways people
interpret the social world and the meanings
they ascribe to it.
They apply this approach to health and illness as a
corrective to some of Talcott Parson’s work.
What is the experience of being sick?
How does illness shape individuals’ daily lives?
How are daily patterns, relationships, and activities
disrupted?
How do we react? How do we cope?
How do we deal with stigma?
24
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
25
Most of what we now recognize as medicine is a
consequence of developments in Western
society over the past three centuries.
a trend toward seeing the origins and treatments of
disease as physical and explicable in scientific terms
the acceptance of the hospital as the setting within
which to treat serious illnesses
the development of the medical profession as a
body with codes of ethics and significant social
power
the requirement that medical training be
systematic and long term
The biomedical model of health
Set of principles underpinning Western medical
systems and practices
norm in Western societies
Defines diseases objectively
In accordance with the presence of recognized
symptoms
Holds that the healthy body can be restored
through scientifically based medical treatment
Alternative medicine is a catch-all term that
has come to mean virtually anything outside
the norm.
There is increasing availability of and social
approval for alternative medicine.
Certain forms of alternative medicine have been
accommodated under the current system and
reassigned the moniker CAM, complementary and
alternative medicine. This has the effect of putting
alternative forms of treatment under the umbrella
of “modern medicine.”
E.g., traditional Chinese medicine, osteopathy,
chiropractic medicine
28
E.g., Yu spends most of his time in the
countryside picking herbs to use in his place of
work. He dries the herbs and makes teas and
elixirs for his customers, who are ill people who
distrust doctors and Western medicine in
general. His clients use his concoctions to treat
their maladies instead of going to a doctor.
E.g., When Sonia came to the United States, she was
bewildered by the magnitude of healthcare choices
available. Some people in her home village in the
mountains of Peru seek health advice from local
healers who have no formal training. Sonia had learned
many of these techniques from a healer in Peru and
decided to offer herbal remedies to cancer patients in
the United States to combat the side effects of the
chemotherapy treatments they were receiving from
their doctors. Sociologists use to the term
complementary medicine to describe what Sonia
offers.
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
31
The twentieth century has witnessed all the
following trends in industrialized societies:
the virtual eradication of polio
a significant increase in life expectancy
a precipitous drop in infant mortality rates
a rise in standards of health and well-being
(see gapminder http://www.gapminder.org/)
Improvements in health and healthcare are
not equally distributed among societies.
The largely private insurance system that has long
excluded significant portions of the population.
Class (see next slide)
Poor access and health
Gender (see next slide)
Race (see next slide)
33
Differences in occupational status lead to
inequalities in health and illness even when
medical care is fairly evenly distributed because
those who work in offices or in domestic
settings have less risk of injury or exposure to
hazardous materials than some manual workers
Women live longer than men
Women generally report poorer health and seek
medical care more often than men do.
Some men are less likely to seek annual checkups
because they are socialized to believe that men
should be “traditionally masculine,” strong, and
self-sufficient.
Significant disparities in:
Life expectancy
In the U.S., for white and Hispanic women born in 2007,
life expectancy is 81 years, while for black women it is 77.
For white and Hispanic men, life expectancy is 76 years,
but for black men it is 70.
Prevalence of certain illnesses
Hypertension is far more prevalent among blacks than
whites, especially black men.
In 2008 some 42% of adult blacks were dealing with
hypertension.
36
Factors beyond the control of any given
individual play a large role in certain medical
outcomes.
The racial gap in likelihood to seek and/or
receive care remains large
Structured by social factors
access to care
lack of insurance
distrust in medical system/professionals
poverty-related issues such as a lack of child care, which
leads to putting off medical visits.
In the U.S. health disparities are most marked
for blacks.
Explaining the health and mortality
disadvantage for blacks:
Blacks as a group have less money than whites.
The murder rate for young black males is more than
7.5 times higher than for their white peers.
There is a higher prevalence of hypertension
among blacks than whites, especially black men.
Black women also are far less likely than white
women to exercise regularly.
Hispanics in the United States have fewer
socioeconomic resources than whites
Health is just as good if not better than whites,
especially the health of their infants
How can this be explained?
Those who successfully migrated to the United
States and who are believed to be in better health
than those who remained in their native countries
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
40
Infectious diseases are often spread through travel
and high population density.
Colonialism was a major engine for the spread of
disease.
New diseases were introduced to populations.
There were terrible outbreaks of diseases like smallpox and
measles among native populations, sometimes wiped out
entire groups.
New farming techniques led to problems.
One problem was that the colonizers forced the indigenous
populations to shift from growing many things to growing a
single cash crop.
Infectious diseases are still a much bigger problem
in the developing world today. (see next slide)
41
Despite significant advances in treatment,
HIV/AIDS remains a global epidemic. (see next
slide)
Major inequalities persist in terms of access to
treatment and diagnosis of new cases.
The majority of new cases are heterosexuals.
Almost half are women.
Over half are in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the United States, African American women are
significantly more likely to be infected with HIV or
AIDS than white American women.
42
Map 14.1 The Number of HIV- Positive People
around the World
© 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Lack of money
Stigma (see next slide)
Lack of nutrition
Lack of medical literacy
Ongoing motherchild transmission
Economic impact keeps deepening the spiral.
44
© 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Why might someone living with HIV/AIDS
be afraid for others to know his status? What
kinds of things might happen to him?
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
46
Sex norms vary considerably across cultures and
time.
There are many possible sexualities (not just
heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual).
There are great variations in norms of sex
practice as well as sexual attractiveness.
Clellan Ford and Frank Beach, using anthropological
evidence from more than two hundred societies,
found that striking variations existed among
societies in what was regarded as “natural” sexual
behavior and in norms of sexual attractiveness.
47
What does sex look like here, now?
Increasingly permissive
both men and women having sex at younger ages and
with more partners
Since the 1960s, increasingly egalitarian according
to gender
Sexual double-standard is weakening
Men are happy with the increasingly open sexuality
of women, but also a bit undone or confused by it.
48
Alfred Kinsey’s research, which was begun in
the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, was
surprising because it revealed a tremendous
discrepancy between prevailing public
expectations of sexual behavior and actual
sexual conduct.
Homosexuality was once seen as mental illness.
According to the influential Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, homosexuality was
considered a personality disorder until 1980.
In society at large, homophobia is on the decline.
While attitudes have clearly shifted, homophobia and
overt discrimination and violence remain.
Especially in adolescence, a great deal of open
hostility exists toward the very idea of
homosexuality.
Gay and lesbian high school students are often
targets of harassment.
52
The bigger question today: is it social or biological?
Most sociologists believe it is a combination (e.g.,
Bearman 2007) (see next slide).
The sociologist Peter Bearman asserted that
since males with female twins are about twice
as likely to report same-sex attractions than
other males are, the parents of opposite-sex
twins are more likely to give them unisex
treatment, which leads to a less traditionally
masculine influence on the males, and this
demonstrates that social factors influence
sexual orientation.
According to sociological research findings, sexual
orientation results
• from biological factors.
• from social factors.
• from both biological and social factors. (correct)
55
Since the 1960s, the lives of lesbian and gay Americans
have become quite normalized.
New York City, San Francisco, London, and other large
metropolitan areas worldwide have thriving gay and
lesbian communities.
Coming out is important not only for the individual, but
also for others in the larger society because previously
closeted lesbians and gays discover they are not alone.
Coming out is important not only for the individual, but
also for others in the larger society because many
heterosexuals recognize that people whom they
admire and respect are homosexual.
Is this a civil rights issue?
Gay and lesbian individuals are routinely
discriminated against at work and in other parts of
their lives.
What is being sought?
Anti-discrimination laws
Marriage rights
The populace is increasingly okay with gay unions
Adoption rights
Today, only one state blocks gay couples from adopting
children.
57
Social forces and the body
Theoretical approaches to health and illness
Modern medicine
Health inequalities
Global health and infectious diseases
Sexuality and society
58