Welcome to
Sociology of Health and
Illness
Week 14
Introduction to the Module
• Introductions
• What is health and illness?
• The ‘sick role’
• What next?
Introductions
•
•
•
•
Pam Lowe
Room NW 922
Email p.k.lowe@aston.ac.uk
Telephone 0121-204-3807 (Ext 3807)
• Anna Gruszczynska
• gruszcak@aston.ac.uk
What is health?
• For the next couple of minutes discuss
then write a definition of ‘health’
What is health?
• Classic definition:
– Absence of disease
• World Health Organisation definition
– "health is (…) a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity“
• http://www.who.int/about/en/
What influences health?
• For the next couple of minutes discuss the
factors that you think influence health?
What do you think influences
health?
• Nature and biology
What do you think influences
health?
• Nature and biology
• Social factors
What do you think influences
health?
• Nature and biology
• Lifestyle factors
• Environmental factors
Sociological Approaches
• Health and illness is not just natural or
biological
• Health and illnesses are shaped,
distributed and understood in relation to
social factors
• Relationship between social structures
(class, gender, ethnicity etc) and health
Sociological Approaches
• Biological/genetic factors are always
shaped by the social circumstances
• Poverty creates illness rather than sick
people become poor
• Unhealthy ‘lifestyles’ are shaped
by economic and social circumstances
Professional/Patient
relationships
• What role to medical professionals play in
maintaining health?
Sociological Approaches
• Medical knowledge is not just ‘scientific
facts’
• It develops in relation to wider society
• The power relationship between health
professionals and ‘patients’ impacts on
individuals health
The ‘sick role’
• One of the earliest concepts in medical
sociology was Parson’s idea of the ‘sick
role’.
• For Parsons being sick not just a biological
condition but also a social role
• It has both rights and duties
The ‘sick role’
• Rights and Duties:
– You can be excused normal duties
– You are not responsible for your ‘deviance’
– You must want and try to get well
– You must seek and accept professional help
The ‘sick role’
• People could adopt the ‘sick role’ to opt
out of social obligations
• So the ‘sick role’ can only be verified by a
competent professional
• But fails to explain
•
•
•
•
chronic illness
those held responsible for their illness
the impact of professional power
patient rejection of the sick role
• Discuss the idea of the ‘sick role’. What
advantages and disadvantages does it
have?
The rest of the module
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Medical power and surveillance medicine
‘Lay’ understandings of health
Health inequalities and social class
Gender inequalities and health
Independent Study –no classes
Ethnicity, racism and health
Chronic illness and social (dis)ability
The sociology of mental illness
Reading week (essay preparation)
Essay Submission
Summary
• Thought about how health and illness and
shaped by society
• Introduced the power relationship between
patients and professionals
• Looked at the idea of the ‘sick role’
Next week:
Medical Power and Surveillance Medicine
• Look at how health and illness are shaped
by medical power and knowledge
• Consider how bodies are medicalised
• Discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of surveillance medicine