Sociology of Health and Illness EXAM 1

sociological perspective

emphasizes how human behavior and experience is shaped by the groups, orgs, and institutions to which people belong

medical sociology

applies the perspectives, conceptualizations, theories, and methods of sociology to a phenomena that have to do with human health and disease

social medicine

efforts to improve public health

germ theory of disease

fill in later

what important developments in the 1950s and 1960s?

the formal emergence of medical sociology

Changes in health, healing, and illness (4 major changes in 50s/60s)

Changing patterns of disease and illness (shift from acute diseases to chronic diseases)

impact of preventative medicine and public health (shift from germs/immunology to social conditions that can make diseases/illnesses WORSE)

development of modern pysch (learned about psych basis for diseases/illnesses)

impact of admin medicine (hospitals and health insurance companies getting more complex, needed better researchers)

two key events that increased interest in medical sociology?

medical schools hired more sociologists, gov’t orgs began putting more funding into medical sociology

grand theoretical orientations

dominated the sociology field, fundamental images of society that guide sociological thinking

functionalism

views society as a system (a structure) with interdependent parts (e.g., the family, the economy, and medicine) that work together to produce relative stability

conflict theory

views society as a system largely dominated by social inequality and social conflict. Societies are viewed as being in a constant state of change, characterized by disagreements over goals and values, competition among groups with unequal amounts of power, and hostility

interactionism

focuses on small-scale, day-to-day interactions among people. Interactionists view society as the ultimate outcome of an infinite number of inter personal interactions in which individuals interpret social messages and base their responses on these interpretations

scientific process

work that guides the researcher in formulating a general theory or explanation about why things happen as they do regarding the particular issue being studied

supernatural explanations of disease

belief that diseases were caused by direct intervention of a god or spirit or through a sorcerer

shamans

the first physicians, intermediaries with the gods, practiced trial and error medicine and often provided effective medical care

code of hammurabi

first codified set of guidelines regarding responsibilities of physicians

ayurveda

life and health are not pre-determined but can be prolonged by human effort (ancient india)

hippocrates

father of medicine

hippocrates’ 3 major contributions

natural explanations for disease (disease is natural process and symptoms are bodys reaction to disease)

humoral theory of disease (natural elements and properties are in balance when someone is healthy)

writings (corpus hippocraticum was his collection of 70+ books containing medical topics)

teaching of human compassion/ethics (hippocratic oath expresses reciprocal commitments made by doctors and their apprentices)

monastic medicine

illness was punishment set up by god

william harvey discovered…

circulation of blood in the body

anatomical concept of disease

diseases can be traced to particular pathology in individual organs

the first half of the 19th century was focused on _ medicine, while the second half of the 19th century was focused on _ medicine

hospital, laboratory

germ theory of disease

discovered by Pasteur, was not solely a chemical event but also the result of various microorganisms

domestic medicine

families assumed primary responsibility for protecting health of family members

great trade of 1910

state and fed gov’ts granted AMA near exclusivity to regulate medicine

proximate risk factors

health related individual behaviors like diet, exercise, use of tobacco/alcohol, stress control

fundamental causes

underlying social conditions such as socioeco nomic status (SES), social inequality, neighborhood characteristics, exposure to stressful life events, and access to supportive social networks

mortality

number of deaths in a population